Oh, Dear
by trichloroethane
Summary: Getting a scoop really wasn't supposed to be this much trouble. Previously 'Journalist'.
1. Chapter 1

**Journalist: Chapter 1**

Disclaimer: Don't own DN Angel, and I suppose I never will.

A/N: I was sitting at my desk, thinking about possible ideas for another fanfic with proper chapters and everything, and this idea just came into my head. As with most of my long fics, this one will be AU and like all the rest, it will have some yaoi in it. I sincerely hope that you will find this story just as enjoyable as the rest that I have written. Have fun!

* * *

Dark walked into the small café, a smile playing about his lips. His dark purple eyes gazed over the room, searching for an empty table. He soon spotted one and walked over, poised and confident. Tucked neatly into the crook of his arm was a notebook, with a pen behind his ear. Dark knew that he was getting a few stares, but most of the other patrons of the café merely glanced at him once and then looked away. By all standards, he wasn't exactly average-looking, but everyone was already used to seeing the journalist walk in ever day at exactly the same time. He was never late, never absent, never accompanied. 

A waitress hurried over, wisps of her dark brown hair falling out of the hasty bun she had made. There were a few stains on her apron and her glasses were askew, but she smiled cheerfully all the same. "The usual, sir?" Dark flashed her a grin, eyes dancing.

"You know me too well, Kuri," he remarked. The waitress laughed lightly and scribbled his order on the notepad in her hand before tucking it into her pocket and straightening up.

"Of course," she replied lightly, "I would be a fool not to recognize you by now." Dark smiled and the waitress left, her steps quick and graceful. Dark leaned back into the booth and looked around, picking hints of all the customers' characters. Two businessmen sat in the table nearest to the door, intensely focussed on their discussion. Dark saw that they had been there a while; their coffees were no longer emitting steam. He observed that one man, at least, had a family; he was wearing a wedding ring. Out of the corner of his eye, Dark saw Kuri approaching with a tray in her hands. On it was his meal; an iced lemon tea and a ciabatta sandwich. Balancing the tray deftly in one hand, the waitress placed the glass on the table and then the plate, warning Dark that it was hot. After thanking her, Dark attacked the meal with right good will; he was famished.

Daisuke walked out of the supermarket, whistling happily. He was glad that grocery shopping was over, because it meant that the twins and Krad would stop whining at him to get more food. Admittedly, their fridge had been looking a little empty since Krad had moved in with them, but that was merely because his fan base always showed up and they had been forced to feed the fan base as well. As a result, food supplies in the fridge deteriorated at an alarming rate. He hurried across the street, trying to balance the many heavy bags. He sensed a sudden movement out of the corner of his eye and Daisuke turned around, curious to see what had just happened. To his horror and dismay, he saw two men grappling in the alleyway. One seemed to be weakening quickly; his movements became feebler by the minute. The other man seemed to be still going strong and was winning. As though in slow motion, Daisuke saw the weaker one fall to the ground, clutching a bright red gash on his leg. He felt a strange tingling sensation come over him and in horror he realized that _it _was taking over again. The shopping bags fell from his hands and he keeled over, unconscious even as a hot blast of concentrated light shot out from him.

Dark emerged from the café, completely satisfied by the meal he'd just had. As usual, the food quality had been great and the price just right. He crossed the street, looking around as usual. He knew that this was a dangerous area, but all the same it was a great shortcut home. In broad daylight, that is. An extraordinary bright flash of light caught his eye and the young journalist ran over, notebook and pen already appearing in his hands. Dark rounded the corner, just in time to see Daisuke collapse on the ground and the light engulf a would-be attacker. Trembling with excitement, the journalist scribbled down notes about the scene in his notepad. To his amazement, the man engulfed screamed as the light surrounded him and then collapsed twitching as it left. Eyes wide, Dark dropped the pen in his excitement. A movement caught his eye and he turned around to see Daisuke recover.

Daisuke blinked, trying to remember why he was lying on a concrete pavement in some dark area. At first, he thought that he'd been mugged, but when he felt the burning pain in his chest, he knew that he'd just lost control. Shifting slightly, he tilted his head to one side and caught a flash of purple. The next thing he knew, he was staring into a pair of intense, amethyst eyes. "Yo, you okay there?"

Dark looked closely at the unconscious redhead from a distance, noting the delicate features and flaming red hair. His hand moved across the page on autopilot, translating the purple-haired man's thoughts onto the paper. The eyes slowly fluttered open and a pair of startlingly red eyes gazed into his. Dark leaned in for a better look and blinked as the eyes lost their dazed look. With a soft cry, the young man sprang up and grabbed the plastic bags with some difficulty, and tried to walk away quickly. Dark frowned slightly, wondering just why he seemed so scared. "Hey, wait!" he called out as he ran after the young man. This only seemed to intimidate him more and Dark altered his voice to make it seem less urgent. He caught up to the shorter redhead and tried to help him with the shopping bags, talking all the while. "Don't worry," he quickly said, "I'm not the police or anything, I'm just a journalist." When the younger one flinched slightly, Dark quickly moderated his tone. "It's just that I want to—here, let me help you with that—" (he grabbed two of the heaviest looking bags) "—interview you about that light thing and all." The young man looked at him appraisingly, red eyes seeming to pierce right into the very depths of his soul. Dark felt a little shiver go up his spine at the look and felt as though he was being tested in some way. Apparently, he must have passed because the redhead gave him an awkward smile. He opened his mouth and Dark felt another set of shivers rush up his spine as he heard the young man's voice.

"A-All right then," Daisuke managed to stammer out. He fervently hoped that the journalist wouldn't ask him about funny lights or anything of the sort. Moreover, he hoped that the interview would be quick and that his part in the story wouldn't come out in the newspapers. "What do you want to know?" he asked, hoping that the journalist would just ask him a few questions. No such luck.

"Well…first things first. What's your name?" Dark asked. He looked more closely at the redhead and jotted down a few more things in his notebook about the guy's appearance.

"Daisuke," Daisuke stammered out. He looked at the reporter, hoping that this piece of information would distract the guy from his purpose. No such luck, however.

"Cool, I'm Dark. You don't need to know that, though. Now, about the murder thing…did you see a flash of light?"

"I don't know," Daisuke replied dully. "I passed out before that." It was a small lie.

"Aw, come on," Dark prodded. "What did you see, then?" Dark stood with notebook and pen at the ready. How he managed to write and hold the two heavy shopping bags at the same time was a mystery to Daisuke.

"Uh…I was…uh…walking through the alley way to get back to the apartment…and I saw these two men grappling." Dark nodded, listening attentively and walking at the same time. "I suddenly saw that one man had a knife in his hand and was trying to slash the other man with it. I saw blood and then I just…I just passed out." He didn't want to say any more, for fear of giving away his secret. Dark looked slightly disappointed, but scribbled away in that little green notepad.

"Cool, thanks." Dark looked directly at Daisuke and narrowed his purple eyes, gazing at the younger man intently. The redhead shifted uncomfortably and was grateful when he realized that they were back in his neighbourhood.

"Uh…Dark?" The reporter looked at Daisuke, puzzled. The pretty redhead had stopped and was holding out his other hand, the one without shopping bags dangling from it.

"Hey, I don't have any money for you, if that's what—" he stopped when Daisuke leaned forward and gently tugged at the bags.

"Oh." Dark was about to give Daisuke the plastic bags, but then realized that the guy was looking a little under the weather. _No surprises there, considering he just fainted away. _"Tell you what, I'll help you carry these up."

"No!" Daisuke shook his head furiously. "It's alright, really, I mean…"

Dark grinned and shook his head just as vigorously, purple locks flying all over the place. "Come on, you look a little pale anyway. Sure you're eating enough?"

Daisuke blinked. This reporter was really weird, to say the least. First he offered to carry his shopping for him even though all he wanted was an eyewitness account of the scuffle in the back alley, and then when he'd gotten that, he wanted to continue helping. Just what was up with this guy? "Hey, you won't get anymore information out of me," he warned. "Last chance." To his immense surprise, Dark broke out into soft, husky laughter that sent a shiver down his spine. The red-eyed boy shuddered at the velvety sound.

"Don't worry," the reporter assured him once he had recovered from his bout of mirth. "I'm not going to back out. I always finish the job properly," he laughed again as Daisuke eyed him warily. "Sorry," he apologized. The pair continued into the lobby of the building, heading straight for the elevator.

Daisuke stood on the opposite side of the elevator from Dark, still not quite sure what to make of this odd character. Dark, on the other hand, was shifting restlessly. Being an outgoing person, he couldn't bear to be in a lift with someone he knew and not talk. So he began to ask questions. "You live here by yourself?"

Daisuke jumped and Dark wondered just why the younger man was so twitchy. He repeated his question and this time Daisuke answered slightly more confidently. "Yes," he answered. Dark nodded.

"How many?"

"Three others, not including me."

"Wow, doesn't the apartment ever feel a little small?"

"No, not really." Daisuke was starting to feel a little uneasy now. He felt like he was being interrogated mercilessly, the questions coming like machine-gun bullets. Apparently, Dark sensed this too because he stopped questioning and casually leaned against the wall of the lift.

"Ah, we're here," he remarked lightly. He waited for Daisuke to step outside of the lift first before getting out himself and waiting for the redhead to lead the way. Daisuke walked to the apartment at the furthest left of the corridor and set the bags on the floor gently before fumbling in his pocket for the keys. To the redhead's obvious dismay, he had left them inside the house again. The worst part was, there was no one at home this time to let him in. The twins were at an afternoon dance club meeting and Krad was…somewhere. Groaning quietly to himself, Daisuke sank down onto the doorstep and looked up at Dark.

"You can just leave the stuff here and go," he told the reporter. "I won't be able to get into the house for a while." He smiled ruefully. Dark raised an eyebrow.

"What, you locked yourself out?" Daisuke nodded ruefully again and could not help but smile a little as the young journalist threw back his head and laughed.

Dark finished laughing and then looked at Daisuke, his purple eyes calmer now. "Say, how about we go to that little café downstairs and just sit there till your friends come back? You can't call them, can you?" Daisuke shook his head, a little wary of this outgoing, energetic stranger who seemed to be taking entirely too much interest in him.

Dark looked at Daisuke, tapping his foot slightly impatiently. "Look, I don't know if you're just shy or whatever, but I'm not going to drag you into some back alley and rape you or whatever, okay?" Daisuke flinched at the mention of the word 'rape', but Dark was too busy talking to notice the younger one's reaction. "Come on," the purple boy said, picking up his bags again. "Let's go. Besides, you look a little pale there." Daisuke slowly got up and picked up his bags, following the energetic reporter.

Daisuke wondered just why the reporter seemed to be taking such good care of him. It wasn't as though he had any information, and it certainly wasn't as though he had any money or whatever on him. He looked again at the reporter and blinked; the man had turned around and was looking at him curiously. "Hey there, you all right?"

"Yeah…just a little off," Daisuke automatically replied.

"Dude…you definitely look off." Daisuke was about to protest at this comment when he felt a gentle hand cup his chin. "Seriously," Dark pointed out. "You look really tired." Daisuke stared into the purple eyes above him, lost in their swirling depths. He was shaken gently by the journalist and he looked up to see the other man shaking his head and muttering something that was obviously not intended for anyone but himself.

"It's all right, really," Daisuke spoke up. "I'm fine, there's nothing wrong with me." Heaven forbid that any of his friends should come home and find that he was 'unwell'; they would probably call his parents and his mother would go ballistic. He realized that the journalist was speaking to him and snapped back to the real world just in time to catch the tail-end of Dark's question.

"….anything?" Daisuke shook his head and he felt the journalist sigh. He felt slightly sorry for the other man; after all, he was offering to buy him something. Dark gave his order to the waitress and she hurried off, giggling at the journalist's good looks. The university student finally decided to pull himself together and ask a few questions of his own.

"Why are you so interested in me, anyway?" Dark shrugged lightly.

"Probably because I've always had a soft spot for vulnerable characters."

Daisuke found himself bristling slightly. "Just what do you mean by vulnerable?"

The journalist held up both hands in a gesture of surrender. "Chill out, I wasn't implying anything. I just merely stated that you looked like you were going to pass out again at any moment."

"Well," Daisuke began hotly. "I'm not."

"Excuse me for being nice!" Dark sharply retorted. "I'll just leave you now and let you drag your damn bags upstairs again, shall I?" With those words, he slapped a stack of bills on the table and stalked out like an angry cat. Daisuke sat at the table, mouth wide open. He hadn't really meant what he said, it was just that the man had somehow managed to rile him up. The waitress came with a tray of food and looked in surprise at the table and the bills lying neatly on it. Daisuke suddenly had a brainwave and on an impulse, asked the waitress to wrap the food up. She did so quickly and Daisuke left, hoping that the bills were on the table.

**Dark: **

Dark rolled his eyes as he thought about Daisuke again. _Geez, try to help a guy. Remind me never to offer anyone that kind of assistance ever again. _Just as he was about to arrive back at the newspaper offices, Dark heard someone panting behind him. He whipped around and saw a red-faced and tired Daisuke holding out a bag of food to him. Dark recognized the logo on the bag as the one from the café and still in shock, took the bag from the other man. Dark peeked inside and saw a neat stack of bills lying on top of the still-warm box. Jerking his head up, he opened his mouth to shout at Daisuke but the man was already gone. Sighing, Dark turned around and pushed the door of the office open.

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Okay, first chapter of my new fic up. Hope you enjoyed it, cause like I said, it's from only a tiny, tiny little fragment of an idea. Constructive criticism enjoyed, reviews enjoyed but please no flames. Reviews are craved and appreciated. Thanks for reading, and for having the patience to get this far (lol)! Don't forget to leave a review before you leave, thanks. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Disclaimer: I do not own DN Angel. It's as simple as that.

A/N: Hope you liked my chapter, I know it was a little random and abrupt at times but just bear with me for the moment please, okay? Hopefully things will seem a little bit better in this one and the pace will start to pick up.

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Dark grimaced as he headed for the boss' office. Takeshi had informed him that 'His Royal Highness' wanted to see him in the office as soon as he got back. Dark had hastily dumped the bag of untouched food in his niche of the office, grabbed a random stack of files and hurried to the polished wooden door; the only obstacle between him and his doom. Dark knocked on the door, crossing his fingers and praying fervently that the boss was taking a bathroom break. A voice coming from the inside of the room soon shot his hopes down and with a slightly shakier hand than usual, Dark turned the shiny golden door handle and stepped into the room.

"Dark," his boss sighed. "Late as usual."

"Hey, what do you mean, 'as usual'?" The purple-haired man demanded. "This is only the first time, and that was because I got a scoop!" The man sighed again. "Don't tell me it was that murder in the alleyway?"

Dark blinked. "As a matter of fact, yes it was," he answered carefully. The boss rubbed his forehead irritably and then sighed again. Dark wondered just what on earth was wrong with the man today; it seemed as though he was just that tiny bit more irritated than usual.

"I hear you got a witness," the man replied. Dark nodded silently, wondering where his boss was trying to go.

"One Daisuke Niwa, right?" Dark nodded impatiently, trying to figure out in which direction the man was going.

"Listen, what do you want?" Dark's boss steepled his fingers and looked at the purple-eyed man, pale grey eyes boring into amethyst ones.

"I want…._him,_" the man hissed out, the grey suddenly turning red and his shape distorting to become something hideous and deformed. Dark was rooted to the spot, transfixed by the horrible image emerging before his very eyes. The thing reached out and before the journalist could react, he was dragged brutally forward. "I…want…_him…_" the creature breathed into his face, its foul breath reeking of dead flesh and old blood. Thoughts rushed through his brain and he fervently began to pray, suddenly believing in God. His life flashed before his and Dark closed them, hoping that there would be no pain. Suddenly, a cool breeze wafted past him and he cautiously cracked one eye open, wondering. To his surprise and bemusement, all he saw was the polished wooden office of his boss with the expensive décor. _What…the…hell…? _Dark thought. He looked at his boss, who was sitting there quite placidly as though nothing had happened. "Uh…sir?"

"What the matter, Dark?" the man asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something worse."

"I-uh-I…" Dark trailed off lamely, not quite knowing what to do. He was sure that his _boss, _of all people, had turned into a raving monster. Yet here the man was, sitting here calmly.

"Dark?" The man was now looking at him with something very close to concern and the journalist felt a shadow of a shiver run up his spine. "Haven't been using drugs, have you?" The younger one jerked back to life and flared up instantly at this accusation.

"I have not, sir! Pardon my lack of respect, but I have never, and never will use drugs!" Dark's eyes flashed angrily and his voice rose before falling to a deadly whisper. The older man shrugged.

"Very well. I think I'm finished with you, then. As to that murder and your witness…someone got to the event earlier than you did. And your witness doesn't seem to have yielded very much information." _How in the world did he know that? _Dark stood there, waiting for his boss to finish speaking. "Out you go, now. And remember: your job is now on the line. If I don't see at least three headlining articles from you within the next month, I'll fire you." In a daze, Dark walked out the door.

**Daisuke: **

Daisuke sat glumly on his own doorstep, wondering just why he had to forget his door key today. It could have been yesterday, the day before yesterday or even last week, but it had to be today. Of course, nothing could top being seen by someone, even if they didn't realise it. _He _had seen the flash of light that his Power always generated and the struggle between the two men. The normally cheerful man sighed despondently and waited for someone to arrive home.

**Two hours later: **

The lift chimed happily and the doors slid open smoothly, but Daisuke didn't bother looking up. Every time he had done so, it had always been one of his not-so-friendly neighbours. The footsteps came closer, but still he didn't look up. Finally, a voice sounded through the empty corridor. "Daisuke," it said coolly, "Just what on earth do you think you're doing?" The university student looked up and smiled slightly at the blond in front of him.

"Hey Krad." The senior eyed him, mild curiosity written all over his face. Daisuke sighed and began to explain. "You see, I left my key in the apartment and didn't realise until—" he stopped at Krad's smirk.

"How typical," the elder drawled out. Daisuke snorted and slowly pulled himself up, dusting his pants off. Krad silently reached into his shirt and pulled out his key to the apartment, dangling on a fine golden chain next to a crucifix. Daisuke sighed in relief as his roommate pushed the door open and picking up the bags, walked into the house. Krad followed from behind, his golden eyes automatically searching for any signs of a break-in. There were none (as usual) and he sighed quietly.

Daisuke dumped the bags of food on the kitchen counter and quickly sorted through them, placing each item where it belonged. His friend wandered in, golden eyes lazy and hooded as usual. "My, someone's anti-social today," he murmured. Daisuke shrugged, continuing to sort through the food. "Care to share?"

"I witnessed a murder today," he dully said. "Though it didn't go as planned." Krad raised an eyebrow. He could tell by the tone in Daisuke's voice that something wasn't right.

"So…?"

"I lost control." Krad kept silent; he knew that Daisuke wasn't finished. Indeed, after a short pause, Daisuke continued to speak. "It just came out, Krad. It just…bubbled up inside of me."

Krad mulled over what Daisuke had told him and finally hazarded a question. "So what happened?"

"This time? This time, the guy disappeared somewhere; I don't know for sure where. I have a pretty strong feeling that he's somewhere in the middle of the Sahara, but I can't be sure." Krad had to snicker at this point; the middle of the Sahara always made for an interesting experience.

"What was that, Hand of Judgement?" Daisuke ran fingers through his messy hair and sighed.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Ah. Anything more?"

Daisuke immediately rolled his eyes and smiled slightly, whilst Krad burst out laughing. "Yeah. Some idiot of a reporter came up to me and began to ask questions. He didn't seem too intent on figuring out where the light came from, though. I just pretended that I had passed out before anything major happened before my eyes."

"You look really pissed at the mention of this guy, any more?" Daisuke laughed softly and pretended to smack Krad.

"You're nosey today, aren't you?"

"Oh yeah. When it comes to you, I'll be _very _nosey."

Daisuke laughed then sobered up quickly as he continued. "He seemed really hell-bent on taking care of me; he was carrying my shopping bags and all." Krad raised a sceptical eyebrow at this point. "Then he took me to a café and insisted on buying me something to drink because I looked 'out of it' to him." The blond snickered. Suddenly, he snapped up as though he'd just remembered something and quickly turned to Daisuke, bright golden eyes now deadly serious.

"There's another one out, by the way." Daisuke winced immediately.

"How'd you know?"

"I felt it, just as I was passing the newspaper office. There was a really strong black aura around the whole place and it smelled of Sharak."

Daisuke winced again; Sharak were well-known for their bloodlust and their ability to track down anyone who held even a dribble of what he and Krad both had. A bad feeling coursed through him as he remembered just where Dark worked and his interest in him. "What if…" he trailed off, hoping that Krad would guess. After all, the blond was not an idiot.

"Oh, hell _no,_" Krad incredulously blurted out.

"Looks like it," Daisuke dully replied. "I'll have to check it out."

Krad nodded. "I'll come along, just in case…in case you need back-up," he offered. Both of them knew that the back-up excuse actually meant, 'In case you die.' The two males sat down on the battered old sofa and began discussing possible tactics and ways to contact Dark without seeming too suspicious. The discussion continued throughout dinner and well into the night, neither seeming to tire of it.

**Dark: **

Dark growled quietly in frustration. Tonight was Takeshi's turn to drive their weather-beaten, lamppost-dented, coin-scratched, _ancient, dusty _old excuse for a Colt. "You retard!" he roared at his colleague. "Can't you go faster?"

"Ask the car that," Takeshi sarcastically shot back. "I'm sure it would run like a dream just for you."

"You know it would, Sally here loves to be ridden," Dark laughed. Takeshi rolled his eyes at the joke and growled back something along the lines of how Dark always used that joke.

Dark thanked Takeshi for the ride and walked into the lobby of his building. He entered the lift and after pressing the button, leaned silently against the wall and rested his head against the cool surface. His mind kept flashing back to the incident with his boss and Dark frowned quietly. He knew that the man couldn't be a demon; he was too prim and proper for that-but he was pretty sure that he'd seen the man transform into something unholy. _Probably just the product of too little sleep and too much caffeine, _he thought wryly. Indeed, that would explain why he was hallucinating. After all, for the past three weeks he had been up late every night, typing up articles and researching obscure topics.

Dark stepped out of the lift and slowly opened the door to his house. Normally the darkness was comforting to him and he revelled in it, but tonight it seemed a little heavier and more ominous. He left the door ajar and walked quickly to the wall, flicking the light switch. With a small sigh of relief, the journalist returned to the door and shut it, locking it and kicking off his shoes. He plodded to the kitchen and fixed himself a cup of hot coffee, uncaring of whether it gave him insomnia for the rest of the night. He sighed contentedly as the hot liquid rushed through his senses, calming him down for the moment and waking him up at the same time. There was just something about caffeine that could soothe him, Dark reflected silently. His brain continued to try and process the day's events; even if he consciously did not admit it, he was still trying to wrap his brain around the day's events and come up with a rational explanation. As if that weren't enough, Daisuke's face suddenly emerged from the dark shadows of his mind and Dark winced. _Er…right. That was so totally irrelevant that I don't even want to think about it. _He stretched lazily in the battered easy chair and picked up one of the many magazines littered about the place. Fifteen minutes later, he found himself slipping into blissful oblivion.

**The next day: **

Daisuke slowly opened his eyes and winced at the sore stiffness in his back. He wondered why he was sitting on the couch, but then remembered that he and Krad had stayed up late last night. _We must have fallen asleep, _he thought blearily. Looking around, he saw no signs of anyone else having entered the house. _I wonder where Riku and Risa are? I don't recall hearing or seeing them come home at all last night. _Just then, Riku appeared in the doorway, already dressed in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. She looked at the two men on the couch and hid a smile behind her hand, although her eyes were filled with concern. She didn't know anything about their alternate lives, but she did know that they had an alarming tendency to have 'accidents'. "I'm all right, Riku, really." Daisuke reassured the girl. She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, much to his gratitude.

"Come on," she said instead. "You're going to be late for Mythology." This one small sentence was enough to send Daisuke into a frenzy and he rushed all over the place, looking for various small objects that were supposed to have gone into his bag the night before, such as his door keys, his wallet and his mobile phone. Riku, on the other hand, merely stood there watching the red whirlwind dash to and fro. To her amusement, Krad slept through it all.

Without warning, Riku heard the door slam and immediately realised that Daisuke had left without her. "Why, you…" she muttered to herself before dashing out the door as well, leaving Krad in peace.

**12:00pm: **

Krad groaned, carefully twisting his head this way and that to make sure that the stiffness was well-worked out of his neck. Thanking the heavens that he had a class only later on in the afternoon, the blond staggered into the kitchen and automatically began preparing what he would call breakfast and what any other normal person would call lunch. He'd never believed in making breakfast for Little Miss Risa Harada (as he privately called her), although for some reason his more generous partner preferred to cook for everyone. The blond looked at his ingredients and then the memory of Risa's 'cooking' popped into his head.

_-Flashback-_

_Risa walked into the kitchen reluctantly, her lower lip stuck our in a pout. It was her turn to cook tonight, because they had finally gotten around to buying groceries and everyone agreed that another evening of pizza would simply be too much. They had drawn lots to see who would get to make their first meal. Risa drew the short straw and as a result was forced into the kitchen. _

_He had been sitting on the couch, laughing with Daisuke and Riku. They had all been deep in conversation when Daisuke carefully sniffed the air. "Hey," he murmured, "Is it just me, or is there something burning?" Coughing sounds were heard from the kitchen and clouds of black smoke were billowing out of the kitchen door. Above all, the acrid odour of something burning floated into the living room. _

_Everyone rushed in, holding their breaths. Riku and Daisuke quickly hauled the coughing Risa out of the burning kitchen whilst Krad doused the flames. That night, they'd had to order takeout. Again. _

_-End Flashback- _

Krad shuddered at the mere memory and sighing to himself, went back to the fridge and pulled out more ingredients. Sighing to himself, he began to cook Risa's meal.

**Dark: **

Dark had woken up at exactly 7:00am in the morning, eyes snapping open. As usual, he took his morning shower, changed and prepared breakfast before brushing his teeth and then setting off for work with a smirk on his face. He arrived at 8:00am promptly, thanking the gods for buses. It was Takeshi's turn to take care of Sally and since the guy was always late, there was no point in waiting for him to drive over. Dark ran a hand through his unruly hair and promised himself silently that he would not do anything to earn 'special attention' from the boss. After yesterday's events, as silly as it might seem believing them, he still didn't want to know if there would be a repeat performance.

All throughout the rest of the morning, life had continued as usual; getting shouted at by Takeshi for making him wait ("You ass, why didn't you WAIT!"), making lewd comments everywhere he went and of course, pissing Satoshi off even more. The long-suffering blue-haired man had emerged from the bathroom dripping from Dark's little present.

Towards the afternoon, though, weird things began to happen. At first they were only minor events where Dark thought he heard voices whispering outside his door, but soon events began to escalate. After talking to Dark, Takeshi found himself with a series of scratches and bruises on himself, not knowing where they came from. Masahiro found himself with a sprained ankle after helping Dark and tripping over the photocopy machine in the process. Worst of all, though, was Satoshi. After he'd given Dark some very useful tips on where to get the top stories and helped the other man to fix his computer, he began coughing up copious amounts of blood and a large gash opened in his back. He'd had to be hospitalised whilst Dark watched.

Towards the end of the day, everyone avoided Dark as though he carried the Ebola virus. Takeshi and Masahiro had both tried to act normal around him, but Dark knew that they would have much rather ignored him. Blinking at the screen, he grimaced at the amount that he had typed. Half a measly page and it was almost time for him to leave. Just then, the phone rang and annoyed, Dark picked it up.

"Is this Dark Mousy?" a familiar voice asked. Dark frowned; he couldn't place where he'd heard it.

"Yes," he answered cautiously.

"It's Daisuke." Dark blinked. He certainly hadn't expected to hear from the redhead after their little fight. "Could we meet up at Se Reposer? You know, the café—"

"Yes," Dark cut him off. "I know the one. Why?"

"Just…" a pause. "Just for a chat." Dark's eyebrows climbed onto the top of his head and stayed there.

"Yeah, right."

"Look," Daisuke said impatiently into the phone. "I can't tell you on the phone, it's dangerous. I'll tell you everything in the café, all right?"

Dark hesitated. _All right, _he thought, _I guess the worst thing that could happen would be that it's just a hoax. _"Sure," he replied into the phone. "When?"

"Um…would 7 be okay?"

"Sure," Dark answered smoothly. He replaced the phone on its hook and leaned back in his chair. A glance at the clock told him that he had half an hour before the appointment. Sighing, the journalist began to type again, not even stopping to glance at his notebook. Unbeknownst to him, there was a small mark in the margin that he himself had not made.

**Daisuke and Krad: **

Krad glared at Daisuke, hoping that this journalist would show up. It was 7:20 and the man still was not there, already making a bad impression on the perfectionist blond. "You'd better be right about this," he growled quietly as he looked at the glass of soda in front of him.

"I hope so too," Daisuke solemnly replied. Right on cue, they heard the bell announce another customer. Both men turned around to see Dark enter the café, looking extremely ruffled. Daisuke immediately stood up and waved, signaling that he and Krad were already seated at a table for three. The journalist nodded and picked his way through the tables and chairs, dodging waiters now and again.

"Hey," he coolly said as he sat down. Dark immediately pulled out his notebook and a pen. "I'm listening."

Daisuke blinked and Krad rolled his eyes. _The nerve of this man, _he thought. _He shows up late and then expects us to tell him everything. _Daisuke laid a hand on Krad's shoulder, sensing that the other Guardian was starting to get irritable. "Fine," Daisuke replied. "It's about that alley way murder." Dark sighed.

"Look," he almost snapped. "My boss told me that someone got there first and it's coming out tomorrow. What, you want your name in the papers now?" At the look on the blond's face, Dark was about to continue but he sensed a dark presence building up around him and stopped. Then he began beating himself up for letting himself be intimidated by this idiot.

Daisuke didn't seem to take offense, though, which only served to rile the purple-haired man more. Instead, the redheaded man merely shrugged. "I just wanted to tell you that the light came from me. I made the light." Dark raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, right," he replied. "You were lying on the ground unconscious. Just how are those two facts supposed to add up?" Daisuke sighed and ran fingers through his hair. Looking around to make sure that no one was listening, he leaned closer to Dark.

"Look, I have this ability to—" The blond interrupted.

"Holy crap, you're actually going to give this guy the story?"

"If he's who we think he is, it'll be worth it." Daisuke replied with a firm look and a decisive tone. Dark didn't like the way the pair of them seemed to be intently focussed on him. Suddenly…"Ouch!" The journalist glared suspiciously at the duo, who were frowning. He felt as though something had tried to drill through his mind and it hurt like crazy. He glared suspiciously at the pair in front of him. The blond was intently staring into his cup of coffee, whilst Daisuke looked concerned. Letting a sardonic smile play on his lips, Dark decided to go for the all-out.

"Look, I have absolutely no clue as to what you're talking about so just tell me in plain words." Daisuke and the blond traded looks and Dark felt a shiver go up his spine because he felt that the two shared something in their gazes that he would never comprehend. The blond one finally opened his mouth again, but Dark cut him off, smiling slightly even though he didn't feel like it.

"Your name first, please."

The blond huffed and rolled his striking golden eyes. "Krad." Dark grinned at him, knowing just how annoying he looked at the moment.

"Hi, Krad." Daisuke hid a smile behind his hand, but something registered on his senses and he quickly tugged at the older one's sleeve to alert him to its presence. Just as the blond managed to extricate himself from Dark's annoying conversation, a gigantic serpent materialized out of nowhere and landed on the table in front of Dark, whose face immediately turned pale. The creature immediately turned to face him, its unblinking yellow eyes fixed on him. Suddenly it opened its mouth and just as Dark had prepared himself to die, a crash registered itself in his senses. He cracked open his eyes to see that Krad had tackled the creature from the side whilst Daisuke was standing in front of him, a slender glowing katana in his hands. _What the hell…_was all Dark managed to think before he passed out from the shock.

Krad belaboured the serpent with his two-handed sword, grunting as he slashed at the scaly coils. "Come on…" he growled at the reptile as it turned to face him, bleeding from the cuts upon its body. Snarling, Krad aimed his sword at one of the eyes and pushed it forward. To his relief, the sword slid in and the thing thrashed around in agony. With its one good eye, the snake suddenly darted forward and with terrifying speed latched onto his arm. Swearing, the blond tried to stab his sword into the thing but already he could feel the poisonous black liquid seeping into his bloodstream. Even as he watched with drowsy eyes, a sword seemed to grow out of the snake's back and the creature went completely limp.

Daisuke threw himself into the fray, his sword slicing through the air. He kept an eye on Dark whilst the man was still unconscious, but he had to help. The thing had already sunken its fangs into Krad's arm and judging from the way his friend reacted, the poison was already starting to work. Luckily, he managed to kill the snake quickly, but to his dismay Krad had also passed out. Looking around, the redhead noted that a crowd had gathered around the little café and they were now all staring at him and Krad. Dark's form was fortunately hidden behind the table. Rushing over to Krad, Daisuke quickly checked his pulse. He could hear someone behind him talking on the phone; it seemed that they had called an ambulance. Sighing, Daisuke decided to take care of Krad, because he knew that the poison could leave nasty side-effects. Rushing over to Krad's side, he quickly began to speak softly and soothingly to the other man, hoping that he was still conscious and that he wasn't panicking. To his dismay, the blond began to ramble nonsense and thrash around, signaling the nature of the poison. Daisuke hastily looked around the room and grabbed a tilted plastic bottle of vinegar. Yanking the cap off, he poured it onto the wound and hoped that it would neutralize the poison enough to give Krad a chance. Behind him, he dimly registered the arrival of the ambulance. He felt himself being pulled off Krad and watched silently, keeping an eye on Dark all the while.

Dark cracked an eye open, surprised to find himself on his back. Remembering the events and the snake and shot bolt upright and looked around for it. To his surprise, the snake was gone. Any traces of it had completely disappeared. However, he did see a flash of gold being carried onto a stretcher before he felt warmth encircling him. He looked up into ruby eyes and stared deeply into them, drawing energy from the way they burned. Slowly, he felt energy infuse him and he sat up groggily, looking around. Daisuke knelt beside him, smiling slightly. _He looks good like that, _Dark thought. _Even if he has more secrets than the sky. _

* * *

Okay, super long chapter here! I know it doesn't really have much to do with the two meeting up and all, but I have to show you guys how they live and stuff, just to give you a better indication of their characters and how they would therefore react to situations. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and review please! Reviews are to the author what maize is to the Africans. Please please please review, and thank you for reading, and thanks for the support so far! Review please! 


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: **

Disclaimer: I don't own DN Angel. Whatever made you think I did?

A/N: Thanks for the support guys, it's really appreciated since this is something that I just didn't really think out and therefore made up on the spot. I have a lot of homework and exam mocks are coming up, so I'll probably not post up for a good long while. But thanks for the support anyways, enjoy this new chapter!

* * *

Dark slowly staggered to his feet, partly leaning on Daisuke for support and partly gripping the chair. He slowly regained balance and looked around, thoughts whirling through his mind. _Oh my God. Oh my God. Giant reptile. Blond guy fighting. _Daisuke _fighting. Oh my God…_ He turned to Daisuke and squealed like a fangirl, causing the younger male to wince slightly. "Oh my God, do you know what you guys have done for me? Thank you so much, my boss is going to _adore _this story! You guys are the best, thank you so much!" Dark continued in this fashion, not giving the other man a chance to reply or react. "I'll put your names in there, I promise! This is going to be the biggest scoop since that scandal about Erin Mayata sleeping with the governor's daughter! Oh my God!" The overjoyed journalist hugged Daisuke, ignoring the stares of the crowd and the muffled noises coming from the redhead. 

Daisuke gave up trying to get Dark's attention by talking to him and so used the only other viable option: He hit him. The darker one pulled back, rubbing his cheek in puzzlement. Then he pouted. "Ne, Dai-chan, what was that for?" The redhead gawked at him, disbelieving.

"Don't tell me you didn't get the message?" he groaned. The journalist shook his head and Daisuke sighed. "Look, we'll talk about this later. I have to go see if Krad's okay." Dark caught the redhead's arm and gave him the puppy eyes look that even Satoshi was unable to resist.

"Can I come along? Please?" Daisuke pondered this for a while and then slowly nodded.

"I guess," he replied. "Just don't mention anything about the press around Krad; he's a little jumpy about it." Dark nodded, although he had a feeling that valuable information for his article would be gleaned. Without another word, the two headed out into the bright sunlight and fought their way through the crowd of reporters. Dark was sorely tempted to clutch Daisuke's arm and tell all of them possessively, "Mine." At this point, he didn't think about the other connotations of that word or the way he said it. Much to everyone's fortune, he did nothing of the sort and the trip to the hospital was fairly uneventful.

Daisuke walked into the hospital calmly, the serene expression on his face never wavering. He was slightly worried for Krad, but something inside him told him that the blond would be perfectly fine. Besides, Krad had gone through worse-they both had-and they were still around to tell the tale. Turning to Dark, the redhead noted that he was much more subdued now and there was none of the energy that he had seen before. It was as though entering the hospital changed him into a different person. A sense of pity welled up within Daisuke and for some unknown reason, he gently laid a hand on Dark's arm. The journalist turned to look at him sharply and pulled his arm away, crossing both limbs. Hurt, Daisuke continued to the reception desk.

"Excuse me, do you know where Krad Hikari is staying? He was brought in just recently." The redhead smiled at the nurse, hoping that she would tell him the room number on the spot without any of the customary, 'Are you a relative' type questions. To his relief, she told him that his friend was in Room 42 and seemed to be quite grumpy. _Well, _Daisuke thought, _if he can be grumpy, it means he's all right. _

**Room 42: **

Krad toyed with a crease in the bedcovers, wondering when he would be allowed out of the hospital. He hated the sterile, white place with its impersonal aura and antiseptic smells. He wanted to be in the city, smelling the smog and petrol that vehicles emitted everyday. As the door slowly opened, Krad's head immediately swiveled towards it. He sincerely hoped that it wasn't a doctor, for both his sake and theirs; he was feeling a little…snappy. He shifted into a more comfortable position on the bed and grinned sardonically at Daisuke and Dark. "I'm fine," he drawled before either of the two could say anything. "As for you, Dark, did you get your scoop?" Daisuke frowned at Krad and a silent look passed between them, again excluding Dark. Daisuke moved over to Krad's right wrist and gently turned it over, inspecting the pale flesh for any injuries. There was no hint of any injury and Dark stifled a gasp. He settled for a look of awe, but the two Guardians looked at him as though he'd shouted. Finally, Krad snapped, "Goggled enough?" Dark flushed but glared back defiantly. Amethyst and gold clashed until finally Dark snorted and looked away. "Jackass," he muttered quietly.

Daisuke sighed and turned to Krad, hoping that he hadn't heard the other man. To his dismay, the senior was smirking; an expression that generally heralded the Apocalypse for an unhappy someone. To his growing horror, the blond turned to him and smiled just as evilly. Daisuke swallowed hard and fidgeted with the covers, praying that nothing…inappropriate would be said. He could hear a nurse outside, tending to the patient next door. Suddenly, Krad yelled and his eyes went comically wide. "Daisuke!" Krad bellowed loud enough for the whole corridor to hear, "You know I won't mind your being in love with Dark! I've always been behind you, buddy, why would I back out just because my friend is gay?" Both men choked and launched themselves at the madly cackling senior.

"You…you total rat!" Daisuke choked out before burying his face in his hands. "What gave you that idea?"

Dark was a little less restrained. "You…" he finished the sentence with several choice expletives, but this only served to make Krad laugh even harder. Of course, being the smart mouth that he was, Dark soon thought of a better comeback when it was obvious that Krad didn't regret anything. "Why of course…" he murmured thoughtfully. Both men eyed him warily, Daisuke peeking out from between his fingers and Krad staring at him like he'd finally lost all his marbles. "Krad," he said slyly, voice dripping with honey. Daisuke squeaked and scrambled for the bed sheets, trying to hide himself under the nearest thing. Only about two hours with the journalist and he could already tell some of the danger signals, Daisuke reflected ruefully. "Krad, I didn't realise you were _jealous!" _A squawk came from somewhere beneath the bed, but Dark ignored it. "You don't have to be mean about it, you know. You could even join us; I'm sure that when it comes to this, the more the merrier!" At the scandalized look on the two Guardians' faces, he burst out laughing.

Daisuke shut his eyes and prayed fervently for a blessing. It seemed that Krad and Dark were prepared to go to war verbally and he knew that the results that _that _particular course of action yielded. Grabbing Dark's arm, he hastily yanked the reporter out of the hospital. It was obvious that Krad was not going to talk about the case until he had trampled over Dark several times in the proverbial mud. The redhead finally managed to haul the darker one out into the corridors of the hospital and just as suddenly noticed the change in Dark. When he'd been sparring with Krad, the light that usually shone in his eyes was back again. Now he wore the same look as he'd had when they had first entered the hospital and Daisuke wondered just what was on the man's mind. Perhaps…? No, it couldn't be. He shook his head to clear it of such ridiculous thoughts and Dark laughed hollowly as though he knew just why Daisuke was shaking his head. "I'm not in love with him, you know." Daisuke started; how had Dark guessed? The purple-haired journalist continued, eyes fixed on some invisible point. "It's just that…I think it's a mutual thing."

"The insults and swearing?"

"Yeah." Dark silently turned to the doorway and began to walk, not wanting to dwell too much on the previous event with Krad. At least the guy was okay, which mean that he would get his Pulitzer prize-winning piece. That would certainly shove the stick that much further up his boss' ass. Speaking of which…

"What did you want to tell me in the café?"

Daisuke started. "Huh?"

"You heard me." Daisuke nodded.

"Yeah. What I wanted to tell you was that the office where you're working is seriously messed up. Have you noticed any strange accidents happening lately?"

Dark immediately remembered the most striking one and quickly ran to the receptionist, dragging Daisuke along with him. "Sorry," he apologized to the redhead, 'It's just that I've got to see this one person before closing hours." He immediately asked the receptionist if she knew which room Satoshi Hiwatari was in, and received an immediate answer. Hurrying to the room in which his colleague was in, Dark barged in, face wreathed in smiles. "Satoshi, my man! How are you doing?"

Satoshi flapped a hand at him, waving the question away. "Ah, shut it. You aren't beating yourself up for that thing, right?" Daisuke's ears immediately perked up. _What thing? _

Dark shook his head, dark purple locks flying around his head. "Course not. If I felt remorse for your pain, I'd have to be a girl." Satoshi glared.

"What's that implying?" he asked, voice light.

"Oh…nothing," Dark airily shot back. "By the way, this," he gestured at Daisuke, "is Daisuke Niwa." Satoshi's lips quirked upwards slightly as he nodded at the redhead.

"Nice to meet you."

Daisuke nodded. "The pleasure's all mine…Satoshi, right?" The blue-haired man nodded. Dark had by this time seated himself on the bed and was looking at Satoshi closely.

"You're all right, then?" Satoshi nodded.

"As well as can be expected. The doctors think it was just a freak attack." Nothing more was needed to be said. Of course, what was so clear to both journalists was a mystery to Daisuke.

"What are you talking about?" As well as natural interest, Daisuke had a feeling that this accident was somehow linked to Dark and therefore the Sharak. Dark immediately explained the sudden events at the newspaper office where he worked and the redhead nodded, now completely serious. Satoshi sighed; he knew exactly what Daisuke was from the moment he had set foot in the room. Although he didn't have the power himself, he still knew that it existed courtesy of his mother, who'd told him stories of such things. At first he'd scoffed at them, but when he'd been fooling around with some friends, they'd decided to play with a crystal ball. The thing had been hilarious at first; it was one of those talking machines that spat out random answers. However, it had gone misty all over as 1:30am approached and at that time precisely, all the power had sputtered out and died. A monstrous being had emerged from the crystal ball and proceeded to kill the drunken teenagers one by one. However, the killing spree had been left unfinished due a woman somehow entering the house and blasting the creature with a wave of light. Satoshi had been the only survivor of the attack, although now he was missing half his internal organs (and according to many, missing many of his brain cells).

"Just something that happened at the office," Dark said quickly. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about anything too personal at the moment. Satoshi, on the other hand, knew better. He could tell that something was up and whispered to Dark to let Daisuke know everything. The journalist wrinkled his nose in distaste but started anyway. "Well, you see, I had a bit of a run-in with the boss that day I helped you carry your shopping bags and all, because I was late for work. Thanks for the extra food, by the way," he added mildly. Satoshi rolled his eyes, knowing Dark's penchant for the random. "So I went up to his office and, ya know, the usual thing happened; he chewed my head off, I yelled back at him, he insulted me a bit and all that. Next thing I know, he's asking me about you and that alleyway incident-don't wince, makes you look guilty," he added to Daisuke, who had involuntarily flinched, "and next thing you know, he's mutated into the evil demon from hell or whatever. You know-drippy features, red glowing eyes, hoarse voice and stinky breath…the whole shebang. So I just stand there like a stunned idiot and wait for him to eat me. Naturally, he doesn't. He just hisses something out about wanting you, Daisuke dearest, and…oh God, don't tell me you're about to faint or something..." Dark paused to examine Daisuke closely. "You sure?" The redhead nodded impatiently and wished for the fourth time that Dark would get on with the story. "Eesh, no need to look so angry." The journalist flapped a hand at Daisuke, earning himself another roll of the eyes from Satoshi. "…and turns back to normal again. He then asks me if I've been drinking too much, I swear at him and the next thing you know, I need three top stories by the end of the month or else I'll be shortly joining the masses of the unemployed."

"Yeah," Daisuke interrupted, "but that doesn't explain why Satoshi's in the hospital."

"Wait, I'm coming to that part," Dark groaned. "So the next day I do my best not to step on the boss' toesies, of course. I toe the line, I'm on my best behaviour. Right after lunch, everyone who helps me starts to get injuries. At first it looks perfectly normal; you know, staples in their fingers, sprained ankles cause they tripped on the photocopier…yeah. Then of course, when my good friend here (he gestured at Satoshi lying in bed) gives me some really good leads and starts coughing up blood. So he's carted off to hospital, and that's why we're here today, Daisuke darling." The redhead blushed at the journalist's address of him and Satoshi grinned, knowing how overwhelming Dark could be at times. '

Daisuke finally managed to regain his grip on himself and spoke quietly, so as to avoid being overheard by anyone. "Um…you know when you were asking me all those questions and stuff…was that related?" Dark snorted.

"Of course not! I hadn't even talked to my boss then, remember? And I know he didn't influence my thoughts by telepathy or whatever. Anyhow, what are you driving at?" This caught Daisuke by surprise, although he hid it well.

"Um…I'll tell you at my place. Sorry Satoshi, but we have to go. We can't risk anyone overhearing us." Daisuke looked apologetically at the blue-haired man, hoping that he didn't feel left out. The other merely smiled and waved a hand, silently telling them that it was all right. Nodding gratefully, the redhead left, towing Dark after him.

**At Daisuke's: **

Dark stepped into the house, whistling lightly. "Nice pad," he commented. Daisuke merely shrugged, hoping that neither of the twins were home. It would be hard to explain why he was suddenly inviting an unknown person into the house without checking if it was all right with everyone first.

"It's home," Daisuke replied. He wasn't quite sure how to take the compliment. Dark grinned at him and for a fleeting moment, Daisuke felt as though he'd known this man for years even though their entire relationship had been built over two days. The journalist looked around, eyes wide. It was rare that he ever got to see a tidy house, because he rarely had time to clean up and because all of his friends were of a similar disposition. Satoshi's had been the only clean place before this, but his house had been clean to the point of sterile, which was what had daunted Dark. This place…though…this place was tidy without being sterile and had a lived-in look and feel about it, which was exactly what Dark looked for in a home. A line of photos caught his eye and the man sauntered over to look at them, curious as to who would feature in them. Generally they were group photos, mainly featuring Daisuke, Krad and two girls. _Twins, _Dark thought. It was plain to see. He carefully examined their features, trying to figure out which one was older. Then he grinned as the puzzle was easily solved.

Meanwhile, Daisuke merely observed Dark as the journalist went through his house. Judging from what the man had said earlier, he did not have a clue as to what was going on and therefore could not be any servant of a Sharak's. Besides, there was something about him that made Daisuke want to believe that he wasn't bound by or to anyone. "Found anything?" he asked amusedly. Dark whipped around and grinned.

"Oh yeah," he laughed. Daisuke laughed quietly along with him. Although he didn't know what was so amusing, Dark's humour was just…infectious. "I found out that you live in this house with two twins, the short-haired one's the elder and Krad stays with you. However, you don't go out with either of them, although you did have a crush on the younger one once." Stunned silence followed this announcement and Dark looked a little worried. "Hey, Dai, I didn't bring back any bad memories or anything, right?" Daisuke stared at Dark, wondering.

"H-how did you figure that out?"

"Well, I guessed that Krad must be your roommate because if there were two girls, there would be two boys to even out the balance. That photo," Dark pointed, "-was taken in a room which is in this house, but it is not yours because the style doesn't suit you, and it can't be either of the twins' because that poster (here Dark nodded at the small dot in the photo) would definitely _never _hang on a girl's wall. Since you and Krad obviously seem to be pretty friendly with each other, it means that you are close friends. And who better to share an apartment with, than with your best friend? Finally, I figured that you once had a crush on the younger twin-the long-haired one-because in the photo where you seem to all be a few years younger, you are blushing whilst standing next to her. In the other ones, you aren't."

Daisuke gawked. "So…how did you guess that the Riku-the short-haired one-is the elder?"

Dark chuckled. "Instinct, and because she has something about her eyes that say she's the elder twin."

Daisuke stared again. Dark grinned and explained further. "When you're me, you meet all sorts of people. You need to be able to spot things about them that tell you whether they're really good or not, especially physical objects. Sometimes, instinct isn't enough. 'Sides, it's a handy ability because we constantly receive prank calls." Daisuke blinked again, processing the new information about Dark. "It's not that hard, really," the purple-haired man protested. "It's just…observation and inference. That's all. My parents were really big on observation and inference. Anyhow, enough about my childhood. So, what big secret did you want to tell me?"

_Finally, _Daisuke thought. "Dark…do you believe in dreams?"

"What?"

"Do you believe in dreams?" Daisuke repeated. Dark stared.

"What, you mean as in what happens in dreams, or just dreams as in the noun?"

"Just…dreams."

"Well, I believe that they exist because I've had quite a few…" Dark let his sentence trail off, although the sarcasm was evident. Daisuke shook his head.

"Perhaps I should re-phrase that question. Do you believe that dreams hold messages?"

Dark studied Daisuke silently. "Depends. I'm more of the 'now-and-again' type of person." He laughed quietly and Daisuke smiled slightly. The Guardian was used to the reaction; it was a way for Dark to relieve the tension.

"All right then, do you believe in the supernatural, you know, like magic and monsters and things?" Daisuke waited for Dark's answer, hoping that the man would answer yes. It was an often childish dream, Daisuke knew, but he wanted Dark to believe in magic badly. The practical reason was that it would make his explanations much easier, and the not-so-practical reason was that Daisuke didn't want the man to laugh at him. It was never pleasant, being mocked; but this time Daisuke felt that it would hurt more. It wasn't as though the journalist was special, but he supposed that it was because the man had been kind to him even without knowing who he was.

Dark looked at Daisuke as though he had gone mad. "When I was five, yeah," the journalist replied. "Not now, though. Never pegged you to be the type of person who was a hippie."

Oh. Now that was just plain mean. It was perfectly all right to call him crazy because he'd been called that enough times for it not to matter, but calling him a hippie was just downright nasty. "Well," Daisuke replied, trying to laugh the matter off. "Never mind then. You can go now, if you want." He turned to go to his room, but stopped when he felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. He turned around to look straight into Dark's piercing eyes and Daisuke felt himself drowning once more.

"I'm pretty sure you didn't drag me all the way here just to chat about dreams and magic," Dark whispered in a low, almost-hypnotic voice. "Better tell me now, 'cause I'm dying to know here." Daisuke suddenly felt the power within him stir, angry that its host was being roughly handled. Gritting his teeth, the redhead tried control the slowly opening gates to his power, but his efforts were futile. One moment, he was standing there half-dazed by the impulsive journalist and the next he was staggering backwards, the man having been thrown back a good metre or so.

"Argh…" Dark staggered to his feet, wincing and wobbling precariously. "Daisuke, if you wanted to kill me, you could have just pulled a knife!"

"I'm sorry, Dark!" Daisuke ran over to the older one, supporting him. "Do you need to lie down, or anything?" He supported the taller one, half-carrying him to the couch.

"Ow, what was that for? Are you some kinda psychic or what? Cause I'll have you know that I don't believe in them, I never did." Daisuke recoiled slightly, wondering if Dark was angry at him.

"Ah…I'm sorry," he apologized again, looking down at his fidgety fingers. He prayed that the man would give him another chance, because he was the only one who'd actually shown a little unconditional kindness in this godforsaken city and because he was certainly a very good-looking—_Oh no,_ Daisuke growled at himself. _Don't even _think_ about going there. _He'd fallen in love with someone only once (not including his crush on Risa) and that one time, his love had turned out to be a double agent. With his own hands, Daisuke had lifted the sword that was at the centre of their battle and killed her. Krad had arrived shortly afterwards to find Daisuke sitting on the floor amidst all the blood and gore, half-crying and half-laughing.

"Hey, I'm not angry you know. Just a little shaken." Daisuke shifted slightly and purple eyes slid into his view. They were filled with something like…understanding? "Calm down. Are you especially jittery or something?" A hand reached out and Daisuke leaned towards it slowly, giving Dark ample time to pull away if he so wished. The journalist didn't pull away, just keeping his hand where it was and letting Daisuke make the decision of whether he wanted the contact or not. _It's almost like those old pictures where you have the pretty princess reaching out to the timid little forest creature, _Dark reflected before looking at Daisuke again and then shaking his head. _No, _he thought again, _not a frightened animal. One that knows perfectly well what you're going to do, but doesn't know whether to accept you or not. _

Daisuke wanted so badly to lean into the touch and just let himself trust the journalist for a brief moment, but he still didn't know whether Dark was truly on his side, or whether he was just comforting him because he'd laughed at Daisuke's 'notion'. "Come on," he heard a soft voice. It was gentle, coaxing. Daisuke forced himself to pull away, although he could feel the warmth coming from the older one's hand. He opened his eyes and shook his head apologetically afterwards. The silent apology did nothing to soothe the hurt in Dark's eyes, though, and the redhead felt bad for placing the look there.

"So…continue. I won't laugh or anything, and none of this will go into the papers. Except maybe for that snake incident." Daisuke smiled weakly at the joke and continued, the words coming out of his mouth automatically.

"There are two types of people-Guardians and just…normal people. There used to be more Guardians, especially during the Middle Ages, but there aren't as many around. The difference is that Guardians can do things that normal people can't. It's commonly called magick and there are different levels of Guardian, according to the amount of magick that you possess."

"So," Dark interrupted, "let me guess. You and Krad are just two of them. And you're a dying species. And you need help because you're dying out and because there's some evil, apocalyptic thing threatening the world."

Daisuke sighed. "No. That's where you go wrong. We're not a dying species-did I say that we were going extinct?" When Dark shook his head sheepishly, Daisuke nodded his sharply. "Exactly. I merely meant that there were fewer of us now than there were a millennia ago. The Apocalypse isn't destined to happen for at least another four millennia unless we're really unlucky…but there are some nasty things out there in this world that no one knows about. But you're right about one thing; we do need help."

Dark leaned back in the chair, looking at the redhead. "So what are you telling me this for? You need my help for this or something?"

Daisuke nodded. "Yeah. You see, there's something out there called a Sharak. It's akin to the embodiment of chaos, and apparently one's chosen to reside right here in Azumano, and Krad and I think that it's decided to hide in the newspaper office." Dark burst out into a loud laugh.

"What? Why? Why infiltrate some little newspaper office and not a government department, say the CIA? Why Azumano, which is out in the middle of nowhere? Now that's just hilarious. Does he have a taste for pretty journalists or something?"

Daisuke's eyes were serious and somber. "Because the media is the right arm of anarchy. Haven't you ever heard that phrase before?"

Dark giggled helplessly, unable to stop himself from doing so. "So who is he, then? My boss?" Daisuke nodded sagely.

"Possibly."

Dark grinned. "Well, at least it would account for my seeing weird things and unnatural crap going on in the office. Any more to tell me, like the fact that the Blair Witch is actually real? Or maybe that zombies roam the earth in search of human flesh?"

The redhead sighed. "I told you, Dark, you're better off going home then. If you don't believe this, I can understand your feelings. I know I sound like I've gone completely nuts, but believe me, it's real. In fact, you should probably believe me even more so because you've seen examples of the things that appear out of nowhere for no reason at all."

Dark stopped laughing abruptly and his expression grew serious. Daisuke shuddered as he saw what lay beneath the easy-going surface of the gregarious journalist. "Ah, yeah, I remember that. I'm not totally discrediting your remarks or anything, it's just that I'm looking for something to hold onto. Really, I mean, it's just that everything's just so…confusing and all. Just continue, I'll be fine." The purple-haired man waved his hand.

Daisuke smiled slightly at the gesture. "Well, first of all, I think you'll be quite relieved to know that the Blair Witch died a few centuries back and a Guardian named Tiathan finished her soul off. Secondly, zombies do not eat human flesh; they prefer the soul and that they cannot be killed by anything; merely delayed." Dark winced. "In any case, that's completely irrelevant. What me and Krad really want here is for you to keep an eye on things in the office. Sharak cannot generally reside amongst humans without causing some effect on events around them."

Dark nodded silently and then snickered, throwing his head back and bursting into laughter. "God," he laughed. "I'm so totally insane. I'm listening to a university student telling me that magick really exists, that there are insane creatures trying to take over the world and that one is in my office. What a laugh!" He continued to laugh until the tears streamed down his cheeks and he bordered on hysteria. Daisuke could only watch silently and as he watched, a phrase came into his mind: _I laugh as the tears course silently down my face. _He knew that Dark would have to face the facts on his own, and that convincing him only helped a little.

* * *

Argh, that was exhausting. Thanks for your reviews and more would be appreciated as well as constructive criticism. Thank you for the support and remember, reviews mean a happier author and (hopefully) a better story! See you at the review boards then! 


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

Disclaimer: I do not own DN Angel.

A/N: Exams are now officially over, although of course there is another one coming up in February so I guess I shouldn't be writing this. The thing is, I realized just how much the need to write has been ingrained into me so I'm here, writing up the long-awaited fourth chapter to Journalist. Speaking of which-thanks for all the reviews guys, keep 'em coming! Now…forward!

* * *

Wincing, Dark raised his upper torso halfway off the cool surface. His back ached and there was a kink in his neck. Carefully moving his head from one side to the other, he slowly worked his back out of the knots that it often got itself in. As he did so, he felt something heavy slide off him and hit the floor with a soft thump. Frowning, the man looked down and registered the colourful blanket now spilling over the edge of the couch and onto the floor. He also registered the unfamiliar beige walls and frowned. _Where…? _He frowned, only to meet a little stiffness on his face. He gently felt his face with the tips of his fingers and blinked as he felt the dried tear tracks. _What…? _Then he remembered. _Oh yes. Magick. _At this thought, he cackled aloud. His thoughts were abruptly halted by the entrance of one of the twins he'd seen in the photographs the night before, when he'd been talking with Daisuke.

"Who are you?" The girl stared at him, brown eyes fierce. "Why are you in here? Who let you stay here?"

Somewhat sheepishly, Dark extracted himself from the blankets and stood up, smoothing his clothes. Finally deeming himself presentable (and seeing that the girl looked as though she was about to spout out steam from her ears), he replied. "I'm Dark Mousy and I'm in here because Daisuke invited me and apparently let me stay here in stead of kicking me out." The girl's stance relaxed slightly, although the flame was still in her eyes.

Riku walked into the kitchen, inwardly annoyed that it was her turn to cook breakfast. She hated anything to do with cooking with a passion, and when this fact was added to the fact that she was _not _a morning person, it really didn't make a good combination. As a result, she was ready to snap and snarl at the first person she saw, be he friend, foe or acquaintance.

Dark winced as he realized what he must look like, but determined to try and make a good impression he asked politely, "Do you want me to help with breakfast?" Riku eyed him warily for a few seconds and then sighed. "It's all right. But thanks."

The journalist looked at her as she walked past him into the kitchen, thinking, _Daisuke definitely didn't mention that she was fierce too. _Sighing to himself and running long fingers through his purple locks, the man decided to go look at the rest of the house. He knew that it was rude to go through other people's houses, but then again, so was staying in them after going hysterical and making fun of them. He didn't even spare a thought for the almost tender moment between them.

**Daisuke: **

Daisuke rolled around in bed, trying to savour the last few minutes of blissful peace in his bed. He wriggled down lower into the crisp sheets and buried his head further into the soft pillow, eyes tightly. In fact, he was so concentrated on snuggling deeper into the cocoon of warmth that he did not register the sound of the door opening, nor the soft tread of footsteps on the floor.

**Dark: **

Dark opened the first door on his left in the corridor and grinned to himself; he'd just found Daisuke's room. He carefully made his way across the room and found himself looking down at the sleeping one's face. The memory of the night before floated into his mind and he shook his head. _I was probably just dreaming. We probably just came here to talk about random things, I fell asleep and started dreaming that we had that whole crazy conversation about the supernatural. _Of course, the dream (if it was one indeed) seemed awfully real. Slowly and without even thinking about it, Dark reached out a hand to gently caress the red locks. He stared at the peaceful face, so lost in the depths of his own mind that he barely noticed Daisuke's eyes flutter open.

Daisuke unwillingly opened his eyes when he felt another presence in the room. He could tell that it wasn't an enemy, but it was familiar and yet unfamiliar at the same time. He stretched his mind a little more, trying to catch a glimpse of something, he didn't know what. All he knew was that he wanted to see it. As soon as he touched the aura though, it shrank away like a frightened animal. To Daisuke's mind-eye, the aura was first dark amethyst, but when he touched it, it dissipated and slowly turned a pale shade of blue with streaks of gold through it. The Guardian frowned; he'd only seen a mixed aura once and that had been a fake. This one, though…this one gave the impression that it was real and Daisuke had a feeling he knew exactly who it belonged to. Although how the man got in was a mystery.

Dark winced as he felt a…_prodding _at his mind. He didn't like the feeling and shied away from it. At that point, he realised that Daisuke was looking straight at him with an unreadable expression on his face. "Argh! Sorry, I was just looking around because your friend's cooking…what's her name again? She kicked me out of the kitchen when I offered to help and so I came in here to explore, I didn't mean to intrude on your bedroom, it's just that I thought you would be awake by now…" Dark realised he was babbling and shut his mouth, feeling awkward and off-balance. The redhead merely looked at him and then sighed to himself, shaking his head. _Some days, _Daisuke thought, _I wonder why I chose to live here instead of some big city where no one would bother me. I wonder why Krad and I had to choose this town, out of all the towns in the world. _He sat up and smiled a little at Dark, who still looked highly embarrassed. "It's ok," he mildly said. "Just let me go shower and I'll be with you, okay?" The journalist nodded and Daisuke swore that he could see just the slightest hint of a flush on the high cheekbones. Swinging his legs out of bed, he walked into the bathroom and shut the door behind him.

Dark sat still for a while longer, allowing his thoughts to wander. He thought about his flat, about Takeshi, about Satoshi and about the incident in the restaurant. True, it had been solved but all the same, it would not help him if someone else wrote about the thing and stole his story. _All the same, _he reflected, _I could probably make something out of the fact that the stupid thing landed right in front of my face! _Suddenly, a piercing sound broke the tranquility of the early morning. The journalist hastily reached into one of the numerous pockets in his cargoes and pulled out the little, beeping device more commonly known as the 'mobile phone'. Flipping the cover open, he said, "Takeshi, 'sup?"

No answer. Dark growled. "Hey, 'shi, this isn't funny." Nothing. A chill sped up Dark's back as he realized that whoever was on the other end of the line was breathing extremely heavily. _What the hell? _

Deciding to try once more, Dark snapped down the phone. "Hey, whoever it is, answer or quit it! It's not funny!"

The heavy breathing continued and Dark jerked the phone away from his ear, now truly irritated. Just as he was about to hit the 'end call' button, he heard a raspy voice coming from the phone. Frowning, he moved the device closer to his ear. "…who?" The voice chuckled and Dark's eyes widened when he heard the next phrase. "I'm coming, honey. And you can't stop me." Despite feeling creeped out and the shivers racing up and down his back, Dark shouted down the phone with more bravado than he actually felt, "Stop hitting on me, ba---" Click. The line went dead.

Wandering out into the living room, the journalist looked at Riku, who was currently setting the table. Slightly unnerved by the fact that the gas was on in the kitchen and something was heating on a _flame _without any supervision, the man headed for the stove. Peeking into the bubbling contents of the pot, he jerked backwards as a stream of boiling hot water shot past his nose. He looked around quickly, trying to find the 'Off' switch. Flicking it, he stepped backwards hurriedly and looked around for something which he could use to hold the pot without burning his hands. A shriek came from the doorway and Dark turned around to see an irritated Riku. _Oh, sh--…_He swiftly moved to the left, _away _from the still bubbling liquid and felt a weight on his right arm as the girl landed on it. He looked down at her, trying to shake her off without being too violent. Suddenly, a blazing pain shot through him and he dropped to the ground, gasping and cursing.

Riku finally finished setting the table and walked back into the kitchen, only to discover the stranger frantically looking left and right for something. Jumping to the worst conclusion, she shrieked and went for the older man, intending to throttle him. He swore when he saw her and moved quickly. As a result, she found herself latched onto his arm and seizing the moment, her leg shot up and Riku Harada expertly kneed Dark Mousy right between the legs.

Daisuke walked out of the shower drying his hair. He quickly ran a comb through the red locks and walked out just in time to hear Riku's shriek and the ensuing chaos. Running into the kitchen, he mentally prepared himself for battle, but he found that it was unnecessary when he found Dark lying on the floor rolling around in agony and Riku looking a little embarrassed and angry at the same time. "What happened?" He rushed over to the prostrate journalist, who gasped for air. He had tears in his eyes and the expression on his face was one of complete, shattering pain. "She…" he gasped, gesturing at Riku. "She…argh it hurts! Dammit!"

Daisuke allowed his eyes to trail further south and winced as he realized just what deadly attack Dark had fallen prey to. "Riku!" Despite his horror and sympathy for the purple-haired man, he couldn't help but inwardly snicker a little. Just a little. "What did you do that for!"

Blushing, the girl managed a couple of words. Daisuke leaned closer in order to catch them better and he looked at the fallen journalist. "Well," he stated. "You heard her. Did you?"

Dark squawked and tried to stand up, only to clutch himself again in pain. "Urgh…why would I try to drug you? I'm a journalist, not a top-notch assassin…! My poor babies, they'll never be the same again!" Daisuke winced at the last comment and Riku blushed a dark shade of red.

Ready to solve the issue at hand, Daisuke quickly told the slightly distraught girl, "It's all right. I'll take care of him, just try not to knee him there next time please. It really does hurt." Riku nodded, still mortified from the experience.

Half-dragging, half-carrying Dark out and laying him across the sofa, Daisuke managed to lay the man on the sofa. Still struggling to hide his amusement, the redhead perched himself on the arm of the large piece of furniture to give the journalist some space and also so that he wouldn't be kicked by the other's longer legs. "So, what were you doing in the kitchen?" Amused red met violet and Dark rolled his eyes remembering what had brought him out into the living room and hence the kitchen.

"I was trying to get the water off the stove because it was already boiling and I didn't think that Riku would appreciate it if she walked over to the pot and it shot boiling water out at her. Besides, she was still setting the table and I thought it would be dangerous to leave something cooking without supervision." Daisuke raised an eyebrow and looked at Dark, who ducked his head and blushed slightly before launching into his defense speech. "Hey, it's called _safety. _You don't generally leave a pot boiling by itself alone." Daisuke laughed and nodded in wry agreement.

"I suppose," he laughed. Dark grinned ruefully.

"If you want," the journalist offered, "I can apologise." His redheaded acquaintance merely chuckled and shook his head.

"Nah," Daisuke replied, "It's ok." Dark suddenly looked at his as though remembering something for the first time and then pointed an accusatory finger at him.

"You have classes, don't you?" The purple-haired man half-yelped. His eyes were wide and Daisuke had a feeling that the journalist had only recently graduated and thus remembered the pain of arriving at a class and being marked down as tardy. "You'd best get going, then. I'll make my own way out. Thanks for letting me stay the night all…I'll call you or something if I want to see you again, okay? Bye!" The journalist stood up, obviously expecting Daisuke to say something about classes just like people always did in those novels some of his colleagues liked to read. Instead, the redhead held up his hands and laughed, shaking his head.

"Don't worry about it; I don't have classes until around two in the afternoon. So it's fine." The journalist looked at him suspiciously and then shook his head, mumbling about cliché romantic plots that deserved to burn in hell. Just then, Riku's voice rang out through the room.

"Guys! Breakfast!" The two men looked at each other and Daisuke saw the hint of a smirk play around the corners of Dark's mouth, hints of the somewhat roguish man he'd met the day before returning.

"Coming, darling!" Dark hollered back. A squawk came from the direction of the dining room and Daisuke blushed slightly, remembering that he'd been called the exact same thing in the hospital, in front of Krad. As much as he knew that the blond respected and liked him (well, relatively speaking), he just _knew _that his partner would never let him forget the experience in the hospital.

The two walked into the dining room and winced when they saw Riku standing next to the table, tapping a big wooden spoon against her leg impatiently. "Well?" she demanded. Her gaze swung over to Dark and she glared even harder, although Daisuke could see a faint blush on her cheeks. She sidled up to the journalist-yes, sidled was the best way to describe it-and standing on her toes, she whispered something to the purple-haired man. He straightened up after listening to whatever she said and gave her a quick smile. Again, the Guardian noticed a subtle shifting in Dark's stance and decided that his…parts…were still stinging a little.

"It's no problem," Dark laughed sheepishly. "I guess I shouldn't have wandered in places where I don't belong, huh?" Riku's face darkened a tad and she repeated her apology, making Dark shake his head and insist that there had been no injury caused. The three then sat down to breakfast, Daisuke explaining that Risa was sleeping in as usual when he noticed that a fourth, untouched place was present.

Halfway into the meal, Riku leaned over to Daisuke. "So where's Krad? He's usually up by now." The sophomore shook his head and looked slightly guilty, even though he knew that it had been through no fault of his that Krad was in the hospital.

"He's in hospital." The elder twin stared in silence and then shook her head.

"Why?"

"Uh…he was in an accident…and he got hurt. The doctors said that he'll live." Daisuke hastily added the last sentence, hoping that Riku wouldn't go completely nuts again. _Sometimes, _he thought, _she can be like a mother hen. _Of course, Daisuke being Daisuke, he felt slightly guilty for even letting such a thought cross his mind. To his dismay, Riku sighed and quietly lowered her head.

"You know," she commented quietly, "I wish you guys would tell me more. I mean, I really would be willing to listen and I'd try to help as best as I could, but it's just that you guys don't seem to tell me anything." Dark looked around the table and felt a jerk in his memory that pulled his soul back to when he was just a child.

_-Flashback- _

"_You know, 'Keda, I wish you'd tell me more. You come home late every night if not early in the morning, you're not eating and you're becoming moodier. Please tell me…is there something wrong?" _

_Dark stared wide-eyed at his father, who he only saw for five minutes each week if he was lucky. Although he knew he should have been glad to see the man, he would have been happier if it was just him and his mother alone. Father was away on business so much, it was almost as though he never existed. Sometimes, he could hear Mother crying alone at night, but every time he tried to go over she would tell him there was nothing wrong and put him to bed again. The man in front of him had his head bowed, eyes shadowed and world-weary. His face was lined, not like the face he'd seen so often in the pictures on the mantelpiece and the portrait that hung on the wall. _

"_Alice…you don't understand. You'd never understand." The man gently took Mother into his arms and hugged her. "You'd never understand." Instead of being comforted, though, Dark watched as Mother began to cry. _

_-End Flashback _

Dark shook his head to clear it of the wisps of memory. _That's all water under the bridge now. There's no use dwelling on it. _Still, the scene playing out before his eyes strongly reminded him of the little flat where he'd grown up. The little flat that had once held a puzzled child, a lonely woman and a worn-out, tired man. The journalist had to laugh at himself for this last thought. _Don't be stupid, _he scolded himself. _They're not going to end up like that. _

"So, Riku, what are you studying?" The journalist asked, hoping to disperse some of the tension in the air. Relieved for the break, Daisuke gave Dark a grateful smile as Riku enthusiastically began to talk about marine biology and the wonders of the natural world.

Fifteen minutes later, the three were laughing with each other, now completely at ease. At that point, a girl with long, brown hair bounced into the room, eyes sparkling with joy. Dark turned around in his chair to see the newcomer and smiled at her, hoping that she wouldn't erupt like her twin did. _Yep, this is Riku's twin all right. _To his surprise (or perhaps not), the journalist found himself bombarded with questions as Daisuke and Riku looked on amusedly.

Breakfast was soon finished and Daisuke and Dark hastily retreated to the living room before they could find themselves roped into doing dishwashing duty. The pair sat on the couch again, facing each other and in the exact same position as they had been the night before, when they had been discussing more serious topics. "So," Dark said conversationally, "why did you decide to tell me a joke that was really not funny?"

Daisuke blinked. "I don't recall anything like that, Dark," he truthfully replied. A nasty feeling was beginning to surface in his mind and he prayed and hoped that the journalist was not going to say something along the lines of, 'You're loony,' or something equally crushing.

"You know," the journalist dryly said, "the thing about magick and all that other supernatural stuff. You're not really a Guardian, are you? And I was probably just stoned when I saw that giant snake thing land on the table and you and Krad fighting it, though I didn't smoke or drink before seeing you guys…" Daisuke stared. He couldn't believe that after the incident at the café and the talk last night (which had been done in all seriousness), the reporter was just brushing it all off. _You'd think he'd be converted within half a second after the stuff he saw, wouldn't you? _Daisuke thought wryly, still feeling a pang of sadness deep within him despite the long years of seeing people refuse to believe the evidence of their own eyes. The journalist looked at him expectantly, violet eyes wide, almost childlike in their desperation. Then the redhead understood.

"No," he lied. "Of course not." For a moment, he saw Dark sag slightly, but he straightened up so quickly even Daisuke wasn't sure whether he'd seen the 'deflation' or not. "Uh…don't you have work to get to?" he asked carefully. The purple-haired man thought about it, then shook his head.

"Nope," he replied cheerfully. "It's my day off today. Well," he added as an afterthought, "I should probably be looking for top stories then. I guess I'll go now," he added before standing up. Daisuke looked at the tall figure and for moment saw shadows dancing around the man.

"Wait," he said softly. "Please wait…" Dark didn't seem to hear this, and continued to walk out.

"I guess we won't be seeing each other much then, huh?" The journalist asked with a quiet resignation that almost broke Daisuke's heart.

"No," he forced the words out. "No, we won't. Goodbye." He walked with Dark to the door and opened the latch as the man jammed his feet into his shoes. Without a glance back, Dark walked out of the door without a word. Daisuke sighed and closed the door, resigning himself to the fact that he and Krad would have to think of another way to investigate the newspaper office without bumping into Dark. _I will not forget the mission, _he told himself sternly when the memory of physical contact with the older one floated into his mind. _I will not. _

**Dark: **

Dark shuffled down the street, eyes focussed on the pavement. He barely realized where his feet were taking him until he realized that the concrete grey had given way to white tiles. Looking up, he sighed. _All right then, _he thought, _let's go visit Satoshi. _

He pushed open the door to find his blue-haired colleague sitting up in bed, reading a magazine. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips and Dark moved closer, careful not to alert the other one to his presence. He oh-so-slowly leaned over the top of the magazine and whispered, "Boo." To his immense delight, the normally cool reporter nearly hit the roof upon that single, whispered word. "Gotcha."

"DARK!" Satoshi yelled. "YOU SON OF A—" He stopped himself from swearing and calmly mended his sentence. "You son of a bugger." Dark flashed a grin at him.

"You know it, and you love it," he laughed, winking coyly at his friend. Satoshi merely rolled his eyes and leaning over, patted the chair next to him, indicating that Dark should sit down.

"So," he asked conversationally, "Get anything good?" Dark shook his head. "Not even on those leads I gave you?" The other asked incredulously.

"Nah…haven't checked up on them," Dark replied nonchalantly. In truth, he'd been busy with Daisuke and Krad and just about everything else in between. Just then, a pretty nurse bustled in. She squeaked upon seeing two people where she expected only to see one, and then blushed. Dark grinned and turned to Satoshi. "Anything you can do…"

Satoshi finished the phrase. "I can do much, _much _better. Don't even think about it, Dark. I'm not in the mood for games."

"Yeah, right. If you've sunk to the level of reading tabloids," Here Dark gestured at the pile of magazines on the night-table, "then you're definitely bored enough to humour me."

"It's _research_," Satoshi growled through gritted teeth.

"Yeah," Dark replied. "And researching Hanaze and Tanaki's love affair of over two months ago is called _research_? 'Twill be a sad day when that happens, indeed it will." Satoshi merely glared.

"Well, unless you'd like to go get some books from my apartment…" Dark shook his head.

"Oh no, you couldn't get me in there if you _paid _me to do it!" Satoshi nodded decisively.

"Exactly," he smirked triumphantly at the spluttering amethyst-haired man and settled down more comfortably into the sheets. "But I have better things to keep me occupied, now that you're here. What happened to your little darling, then?"

"He's not my darling," Dark gritted out irritably. "He's a stuck-up, pompous, pretentious, arrogant and stoned-out-of-his-mind little bastard, that's what he is!" Satoshi wisely held his peace, knowing that more would probably spew out of Dark if he waited. "Do you know what that twerp asked me when I got to his place?" Dark growled. "Do you know?" Satoshi gave him a withering look and Dark resumed his tale. "He asks me if I believe in dreams! Well, of course I gave him a half-answer because I wasn't sure where he was headed, and then he started telling me all this crock about Guardians, Sharak and other things! Then when I start making fun of it, he tells me that everything I just mentioned was real! Then he started implying that I was under mind-control from something! It was crazy! Then when I asked him for reassurance this morning, he just about kicked me out and I found myself here!"

Satoshi blinked at Dark's irate rantings. "Well," he stated cautiously, "you probably pissed him off when you made fun of him. And knowing you, you probably just stormed off." Wrong thing to say. Dark threw his hands up and growled.

"What? You're supposed to be my friend! Not Daisuke's!"

"I know you better," Satoshi pointed out reasonably. "It's my job to keep you going straight. Besides, I wouldn't be a good friend if I didn't try and help you to see the other person's side of the story." Dark merely glared, not at all in the mood for meaningful little words.

"Ugh, spare me the pep-talk," he groused. Leaning forward, he buried his face in his hands whilst Satoshi looked on. The blue-haired reporter wanted to pat his back or at least show some gesture of comfort, but he couldn't.

"Hey, Dark, after I'm—" Satoshi was rudely cut-off by Dark's shooting upwards again.

"And you know what the sad part was? Last night I thought we'd established rapport! I thought there had actually been a breakthrough! Boy was I wrong! The guy must have thought I was a fag or something!" Satoshi blinked. Well. That certainly wasn't what he'd expected to hear. Glancing at the door to ensure that no one was about to enter the room, he leaned closer to Dark.

"What happened?" he whispered incredulously. "Don't tell me you did the unthinkable."

Dark gave him a look before letting loose with an almost canine howl. "ARGH!" Without another word, he fled out of the room. Satoshi sighed and leaned back in bed, covering his face with exasperation. _Idiot. I don't care if he's a top journalist who would win the Pulitzer if he just wrote something properly for once. He's still an idiot. They'd better discharge me soon, so that I can get out of here and interrogate him properly. _

**Daisuke: **

Daisuke shook his head, trying to clear it of 'Dark' thoughts (no pun intended). His 'Iago' snickered and questioned, -Did you really think that was going to work out well?-

_Well, _Daisuke admitted to himself, _no. Not really. _

'Iago' chuckled darkly. –No, I didn't think so either. Besides, he's the kind of guy who goes for pretty girls, not pretty boys.-

_Shut up. _Daisuke firmly slammed the door on 'Iago' and stared blindly at the blank sheet of paper in front of him. Although the essay wasn't due in any time soon, he didn't have anything better to do and homework was the only viable option, seeing as there wasn't anything good on television and they didn't have Internet access. A glance at the clock revealed that he had plenty of time to go visit Krad-it was only 11:47am, and he only had classes from two onwards. Sighing, the redhead stood up and grabbed his keys and wallet before heading out the door.

Fifteen minutes later, Daisuke walked into Krad's room. The blond could tell that his friend wasn't happy; his eyes were downcast and he looked rather dejected. The older Guardian didn't bother asking what the matter was; Daisuke's reticence was renowned throughout Guardian's Tower and he knew that the boy would open up to him in his own time. Leaning on the pillow, Krad looked at his longtime partner and friend. He watched Daisuke sit in one of the visitors' chairs for five minutes before the crimson-eyed one even looked properly at him.

"Are you going to be discharged soon?"

Krad nodded, not willing to speak too much.

"Oh," Daisuke said bleakly. "That's good." Krad clenched the blankets in his fists a little more tightly, slightly ruffled by the attempt at small talk. It was clear that something was bothering Daisuke, but he couldn't say what. Then his companion started talking again.

"He left." Krad blinked before realizing exactly what, or _who_, Daisuke was referring to.

"A lost cause?"

Daisuke nodded miserably. "Yeah…I almost convinced him last night, I think. Then this morning he just…he just treated everything as a joke. He left after we got into an argument of sorts."

Krad shrugged and awkwardly patted Daisuke's back. "Well," he tried to say comfortably, "it wasn't as though you two were setting up for a long-term relationship or anything…were you?" He hastily asked upon seeing the look on Daisuke's face.

"Well," Daisuke confessed. "No. It's just…it's just that I thought…I thought we'd established a rapport or something…especially seeing as he was about to believe everything…it hurt when he laughed at everything I'd said this morning…" The red-head trailed off, unable to stand the embarrassment. Krad sighed, making a mental note to himself to hunt Dark down (preferably at night when the guy was getting ready for bed) and murder him.

Daisuke continued speaking, interrupting Krad's thoughts, and narrated the whole tale, although the redhead omitted the part about their little 'physical contact' moment. Just as he'd finished and Krad had opened his mouth to say something, a howl echoed down the corridor, shortly followed by pounding footsteps. Without another thought for the conversation, Daisuke and Krad both rushed out of the room, ready to fight.

* * *

TA DAA! Another chapter finished. I know it's kinda boring and there's not much action, but I'm trying to take things slow because everyone knows that love at first sight doesn't always happen. Besides, I need to develop the characters a little more. PS: I know you guys are all well-educated people and whatnot, but just humour me okay? Where did I get the name for Daisuke's inner voice (Iago) from? If you can answer, kudos to you! Reviews please! I need them, especially after such a long break. So, review and answer my little question please! Thank you for reading. 


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: **

Disclaimer: I do not own DN Angel.

Warnings: I know, I should have done this at the beginning but after such a long hiatus I've forgotten some of the protocol. Yaoi, slightly OOC, AU, mild language.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys, I really appreciated them. I'm glad some of you seem to like what's coming out so far. Oh yes; Happy Chinese New Year and all the best for this year! As for my little question last time, it's not the parrot from Aladdin (I didn't think of that until someone actually answered it. Hint: Think Shakespeare, not Disney). On with the fic!

* * *

Dark shot down the corridor, growling at anyone who dared stand in his way. _Ugh. First it's idiots telling me about magick, next it's people thinking I _slept _with said idiots. _Rounding the corner, he slammed into something solid and warm. Out of pure instinct, he grabbed onto the thing in front of him, trying not to fall down. _Great. Now I'm clumsy, too. _Looking up, he caught a flash of red. _Oh, hell no. _Dark Mousy, journalist and self-proclaimed ladies' man, was in the arms of Daisuke Niwa, Guardian of Starlight Temple and protector of humankind. Well, clutching his shirt, anyway.

"You!" He barked, startled. He leapt backwards and looked at the other man. He seemed rather…distraught. The soft spot in Dark's heart wanted to comfort the redhead and ask him what was wrong, but the rest of him was screaming to leave. "What are you doing here?"

"Forgotten me already?" An amused voice asked. Dark looked up and sighed. Of course; it was Krad. He remembered the blonde getting hurt in that café fight, how, he didn't know. Perhaps his hallucinations had made him smash a glass on the guy's arm? Yes, that had to be it.

"Sorry about your arm," he said rather carelessly. The blonde sneered at him.

"What makes you think you did it?" He touched the spot on his arm, then rolled up the sleeve. The journalist looked at the unblemished arm and rolled his eyes.

"I think I was stoned or being stupid that day," Dark spat. He hated the lie, hated what it made him look like, hated the shield that it created for him. Krad raised an eyebrow.

"You? Stoned?" He sneered derisively. "Don't be an idiot. Daisuke and I both know that you happen to hate drugs."

Dark blinked. "When did I tell you that?" He challenged the senior.

"When you told me about the fight with your boss," Daisuke said softly. His eyes were fixed on Dark's. The purple-eyed man merely shook his head, determined not to let the farce go on for any longer.

"Look," he said sharply, "I don't know what you've been smoking, Daisuke, nor you, Krad, but I don't believe a word you guys have come up with so far."

"Hey now, when did I say anything funny?" Krad asked in an attempt to alleviate the tension. He received a glare for his pains.

"I'm happy, all right? I've got my story, I've got my things and I won't bother you again," Dark hissed out. "Goodbye," he savagely spat before turning around on his heel.

Daisuke looked up worriedly at Krad. "Hey, you should be in bed, shouldn't you? Who gave you the right to get out of bed?" Krad was about to reply when a nurse calmly tapped him on the shoulder.

"You should be in bed, young man," she scolded him. Krad rolled his golden eyes and stuck out his left arm, which had been injured.

"Look, nothing here. As a matter of fact, my friend here," he gestured at Daisuke, "came to take me home." The nurse raised an eyebrow at the healed over wound.

"We-ell," she said dubiously, "If you say so. Come with me, Mr…?" She looked expectantly at the zoned-out Daisuke.

"Niwa," Krad smoothly answered.

"Mr. Niwa," the nurse replied. The suspicious look on her face was still not gone and Krad decided to hold his tongue for the rest of his stay. Seeing that his friend was thinking about something and lost somewhere in the depths of his mind, Krad nudged him with his elbow.

"Wha..? Oh, okay!" Daisuke cheerfully walked after the nurse, smiling. Krad rolled his eyes mentally as he saw that the nurse was considerably warmer to his partner. It didn't hurt that Daisuke was doing his best to be nice and he was weaving a small charm to keep her happy until he could get his friend home. Krad looked at the large clock on the wall and almost winced. He and Daisuke were both going to be extremely late for class if they didn't hurry up.

Daisuke shifted impatiently as the nurse looked through the files at a snail-like pace. _Come on! _He thought, glancing worriedly at his watch. "Um, Miss?" he tentatively asked. "Could you please speed up a little? I'm in a rush to get to class…" To his dismay, the girl showed a great deal of interest in his lessons and kept asking questions. Not wanting to appear rude, Daisuke was forced to answer all of them. Meanwhile, Krad was stuck in his room, waiting for Daisuke to turn up with the discharge papers so that he could go home. He thought again about Dark and cursed the other man quietly, wishing he hadn't been such a jackass about things.

**Dark: **

Dark glumly looked at the surface of the table. He'd dropped into his favourite café, looking for a pick-me-up kind of drink that did not contain alcohol. Unfortunately, the manager had taken his favourite drink off the menu, thus forcing the journalist to settle for an iced tea. _I bet I just won the prize for being the world's Biggest Retard,_ he miserably thought. Without warning, a scream came from out of nowhere, startling the purple-haired man out of his self-pity. Running over, Dark was horrified at what he saw-a large, black dog with glowing red eyes was attacking a young child. Even from three feet away, Dark could already smell the beast's sulphurous breath and see it's dripping fangs.

"Someone help him!" Dark shouted. "Please!" He couldn't understand why no one was even reacting to the child's obvious dismay. Even the parents seemed to be totally oblivious to the infant's plight. Looking around, the journalist felt a sinking in his heart. In the back of his mind, something stirred. Cold realization hit him and Dark thought, _There's no one here to save him now. No one but me. _Taking a deep breath, he ran towards the scene and landed a solid kick in the animal's ribs. It staggered backwards, taking a chunk of the child with it. Dark threw himself recklessly at the hellhound, punching and kicking every part of it that he could reach. Suddenly, a searing pain shot through his shoulder and he knew that he'd just been bitten. "Oh no you don't," he roared, twisting and flailing. "No you DON'T!" He jabbed blindly, desperately looking for the dog's eyes. His fingers suddenly met something soft and the creature howled, releasing its hold on his shoulder. Dark stood up, panting. The dog looked at him, fury blazing in its red eyes. Blood gushed out of one eye socket and it snarled again before leaping towards him. The journalist felt it hit him, felt its fangs sink deep into his chest. With a last, painful effort, he suddenly thrust his hand out, palm open. Why he did so, he didn't know. As he did, a burst of heat filled him and he passed out, the hound's howl ringing in his ears.

"…crazy…3 ribs…bite marks just like that…" Dark swam in and out of consciousness, panting for breath. He felt as though he were underwater and rapidly running out of air. _I'm going to die,_ he thought, panicking. _I'm going to drown and no one's going to save me. I'm going to drown…_A rush of oxygen filled his lungs and Dark took deep breaths, greedily gulping the life-giving element. Still, he could not open his eyes and his limbs felt like lead. Slowly, he sank back into the murky waters of sleep.

**That evening: **

Riku switched on the television in preparation for the news. Not only did she need the background noise, she also wanted to be kept up to date with current events. Nowadays, it was all too easy to be lost in a world of academics, books and education. She quietly set to chopping the vegetables briskly and efficiently, all the while keeping an eye on the pot of water after what had happened this morning. _Wonder what happened to Dark, _she mused. _He was actually okay, once you got past the crazier part of him. _Sighing to herself, she dropped the carrots into the now boiling water. A squeal sounded from the living room and the short-haired twin looked out into the living room to see Risa lean back into the couch in shock. "What is it?" she called from the kitchen.

"I-It's Dark…" The younger began. Riku frowned.

"What are you talking about?" She demanded.

"He's been hurt…" The knife slipped and Riku snatched her other hand away just in time to avoid losing a digit.

"What!"

"He's in hospital…" Risa only got this far before bursting into tears. Riku hastily turned the stove off and rushed out to comfort her twin. Dinner be damned; she had to watch the rest of the news and comfort her distraught twin.

"I'm sure he's fine…" Riku began, but was cut off by the sight of a stretcher being borne into the back of an ambulance. After that, both sisters sat glued to the screen until the news flash ended, Risa sniffing all throughout. _I wonder if Daisuke knows, _Riku thought.

**Krad: **

Krad leaned over the counter, enjoying the feeling of just being a normal person instead of a part-time employee at the store or even a Guardian. His eyes skimmed over the television sets, each one playing their videos. Without warning, he felt his crucifix grow hot against his skin and he bit back a yelp. Hastily turning towards one of the large screens and hunching over slightly, he fished the piece of jewellery out. It was glowing bright red. _Daisuke had better be feeling this too, _he thought as he headed out of the store and ran towards his battered motorcycle.

**Daisuke: **

Daisuke stared pensively into the depths of his glass, the warm brown liquid not offering any support or aid whatsoever. He mulled over the day, wincing at the memory of his less-than-pleasant encounter with Dark at the hospital. Krad had offered to kill him, but Daisuke felt that highly unnecessary. _I just wish that he would believe me. I wasn't lying; even he saw that snake! _

His mobile rang. Shifting so as to make access to his pocket easier, Daisuke plucked the device out of his jeans and flipped the cover open. "Hello?"

"Hey Dai, it's me. Riku. Did you see the news?"

"Uh…no?" Daisuke tensed up, hoping something funny wasn't going on.

"Dark's been hurt. He's in the hospital now. Apparently a large dog or something mauled him…he had three broken ribs and various bites."

Daisuke quickly processed the information. "Oh, okay. Thanks Riku," he said before hanging up. Heat shot through the chain he wore and Daisuke hastily patted it, his mind's eye seeing that it was a bright green. _Crap. _The redhead threw a stack of bills down onto the table and left.

**Dark: **

He looked around the apartment, old memories resurfacing. He turned around, knowing exactly what was behind him. There was the old oak shelf, the one where Mother placed all her precious objects. There was the scratch in the wallpaper, where he'd accidentally scraped it with a folder after waving it around. There was the picture Mother said that Father had bought for her after they'd gotten married. A sound came from behind him and the journalist whirled around just in time to see himself, five years old again, run into the room clutching a book in his small chubby hands.

"Mother!" The child shouted. "Mother! Look what I got!" He held out the book to the lady who had just come in the door. The child waited expectantly, violet eyes wide with innocence and hope. The woman opened the book, flipping through the pages.

"Is it this one, Dark?" She asked the child fondly

"No!" The child made a face at her, laughing when she did. "Here! It's this one!" A chubby finger pointed at the page.

"Wow, Dark! I'm very impressed!" Dark walked over to the pair, wrapped up in their own little world. He looked over his Mother's shoulder to see what he'd been pointing at and blushed with embarrassment. It was an essay with a sticker on it from the teacher.

"Hey!" He said out loud, smiling. Mother and son did not hear him. "Hey!" He reached out a hand, trying to tap his Mother on the shoulder. It went right through. _Oh Lord, _he thought, _this is like some bad flashback thing. _The apartment then melted and wavered and Dark looked on in shock as he watched his mother and his five-year old self dissolve. He shut his eyes, feeling dizzy from watching the swirling colours.

Dark blinked as he realized that he was now sitting in his old bedroom, on the single bed. Looking around, he smiled wistfully and reached out to touch an old poster fondly, remembering. "Dark." His head whipped around and Dark could only stare as he realized that his mother was standing in front of him.

"M-Mother?" He could hardly believe his eyes. She nodded, her hair swishing, eyes calm as ever.

"W-what?"

"Hush. Just relax…you'll be fine." Dark slowly relaxed and the next minute found himself lying snugly in the little bed, tucked in amongst the warm blankets and listening to the rain outside. His mother was sitting at the end of the bed, smiling at him. Feeling truly at peace for the first time in years, Dark shut his eyes and snuggled deeper into the blankets. _I want to sleep and sleep…_

**Hospital: **

"Crap! It's flat!" The surgeons hurriedly adjusted the face mask on the patient's countenance. "Hurry up!"

A nurse ran over, dragging a machine behind her. The surgeon picked up the two paddle-like parts of the machine and rubbed them together. "Three hundred." The nurse nodded and the man jammed the paddles onto Dark's chest. The body flew into the air with shock, then landed on the table with a lifeless thud.

"Three eighty!" The charge was raised and the surgeon hit the body again. Again it flew into the air, again it landed with a sickening thud. This time, though, the machine bleeped, indicating life in the body. Everyone breathed out a small sigh of relief, including the surgeon. "All right guys, let's get to work."

**Dark: **

Dark gasped, a constricting pain emerging in his body. His ribs and shoulder throbbed with pain and he felt as though he was being pumped full of electricity. He tried to thrash around, but the blankets held him firmly down. Something slimy brushed his cheek and his eyes snapped open to look at his mother, only to find that a tentacled monster was brushing his cheek softly. "AAAGGHHHH!" Then…darkness.

**Krad: **

The blonde tore down the streets on his motorcycle, intent on getting to the hospital. _Please, please let me get there in time, _he fervently thought.

**Daisuke: **

Daisuke ran through the doors of the hospital, a small part of his brain wryly observing that he seemed to be seeing a lot of the hospital these days. He arrived at the reception panting. "Please," he wheezed out, "Is there a Dark…uh…" He trailed off, trying to remember the man's last name.

"Was he taken in recently?" Daisuke nodded vigorously.

"Oh, I'm sorry, he's in the ER right now. Perhaps you'd care to wait?" Daisuke stared in shock and numbly walked over to the chairs. The receptionist watched with sympathetic eyes and shook her head before returning to her work.

Five minutes later, Krad burst through the doors and headed straight for the receptionist. "Where is he?" he demanded. "Where's Dark Mousy?" Daisuke immediately leapt up and hastily dragged the blonde away, leaving a frazzled receptionist in his wake.

**Two hours later: **

Krad leaned against the wall, bored out of his mind. He hadn't thought of packing a book or anything to take with him, and he'd gone through the magazines on the rack three or four times already. One could only read year-old gossip for so long before feeling bored. He shot a glance at Daisuke, who seemed off in his own little world. Groaning to himself, the blonde looked around the room before noticing a young woman talking to the receptionist at the desk. She was dressed expensively, with long red hair done up in a braid. Raising an eyebrow, Krad smirked to himself before slipping a hand into the pocket of his coat and twiddling his fingers. The girl's voice was amplified twice to him now and he listened. _Well, well. _She was looking for Dark Mousy. Krad lowered his face hastily, hoping she wouldn't recognize him. He glanced up again, gold meeting ice blue. _Oops. _All pretenses to subtlety now gone, Krad shot up.

Daisuke jerked out of his seat in shock as Krad dashed past him in hot pursuit of a young woman. Preparing himself for battle, Daisuke 'wandered' down the corridor. Once he was sure the receptionist could not see him, he sprinted after the pair.

**Satoshi: **

Satoshi was reading again, this time a book that one of his other colleagues had brought him from the office. Although he held the book, his eyes were glazed over, mind on the events of the day. He'd heard that a new emergency case had been brought to the hospital a few hours earlier, but it was none of his concern-he was sure that the patient wasn't anyone he knew. However, he was still uneasy and felt as though something were watching him. Shaking his head, he returned to the novel and soon became engrossed in it, not hearing the steps echoing through the corridor and the shrieks of the nurses.

**Daisuke and Krad: **

The two Guardians flung the door of the operating theatre open, ignoring the yells and cries from the doctors inside. Krad rushed towards the redheaded lady, pulling his fist back as he did so. He summoned a burst of magick and punched outwards, the ball of energy traveling through the air and landing solidly in her gut. The woman's expression did not change, despite the now gaping hole in her body. Icy blue eyes met Krad's and the Guardian felt a chill go up his spine as he lifted his hands for another, more potent spell this time. Meanwhile, Daisuke had dashed over to Dark and was desperately trying to revive him, prevent him from sinking back into the world that the lady had created for him using fragmented memories.

**Dark: **

Dark opened his mouth to yell, scream, shout, anything, but no sound came out of his mouth. He tried to squirm away from the tentacles that now slithered around him like so many snakes. The white-hot pain flashed through his senses and he shot up, fully awake. His shoulder and chest hurt like hell and he could still hear his mother's screams echoing faintly in his mind. "MOTHER!" He jerked upwards, arms outstretched and flailing like a windmill. He stared straight into a pair of familiar red eyes and stopped, feeling the reassurance coming through them. He was dimly aware of a pair of hands on his chest and he slowly exhaled, feeling a warm energy flowing through his veins. Tears in his eyes, he looked at Daisuke and buried his face in his hands as the salty droplets trailed down his face.

Krad groaned from amongst the wreckage of the tray that had held the surgeons' tools. He'd been flung backwards by her immense psychic power and was now starting to feel just a tad frustrated. So far, she had managed to counter all his attacks and he knew that he could not continue wasting magick. She smiled slightly at him and then turning around, leapt out the window. The blonde Guardian glared at the window and fumed before wincing; a scalpel was poking at his back. Slowly, he raised himself off the table and looked at the surgeons, who were all cowering in a corner. Smiling weakly at them, Krad hastily exited the room.

Daisuke hugged Dark closely to his chest, the urge to protect rising in him. He didn't want the man to faint again, and he knew that it was always painful when you were wrenched out of a fond childhood memory. "It's okay," he soothed the purple-haired journalist, patting his back gently. "It's all right. She's fine. Everything's fine." He sank down onto the table and allowed Dark to cry, ignoring the doctors in the corner.

* * *

All right, howzat? I hope this chapter was a bit better because there was more (poorly written) action and a little hint of things to come. I think things will start to heat up from here, and as for the Iago thing, I'll tell you guys the answer in the next chapter, seeing as I was being vague. Reviews please, I'm really trying here. Please, please PLEASE review, and thanks to the last reviewers. Like a friend of mine wrote, "I love reviews like a fat kid loves candy!" Please review, thank you for reading! Till next time! 


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

Disclaimer: DN Angel is NOT my property.

A/N: I've been tied up with writer's block and a huge exam lately, so I haven't been bothered to update at all. I'll try and make this one nice. Since no one's tried to give me the answer to Daisuke's little voice's being called 'Iago', I guess I'll tell all. It's the name of the little voice of doubt which drives Othello (Shakespeare) to kill his wife for cheating on him when she was actually completely innocent. Enjoy this chapter, then!

* * *

Dr. Henry Melas eyed the strange looking pair from the corner of the room. He didn't know what was going on, but the battle he'd just witnessed was not something he'd expected to see. Certainly not with the flashing lights and everything else; he was a man of science, someone who believed that magic and flashing lights were things made from a child's dream, nothing more. Glancing towards the patient, he noticed that the man was now awake and crying into the arms of a redhead, who was trying to soothe him. Around him, his colleagues shifted uneasily, not wanting the responsibility of breaking the trancelike state they had all entered since the entrance of the young lady and a blonde man. Looking around, the doctor pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled slowly. Approaching the couple, he placed a hand on the redhead's shoulder. "Excuse me," he said softly, "Would it be all right for us to try and fix Mr. Mousy up?" The redhead looked up at him sheepishly.

"Ah…sure," he answered cheerfully. He looked down at his distraught companion. "Come on Dark," he murmured. "Gotta get you fixed up." The journalist only clutched the shirt more tightly, balling the cloth up in his hands. Daisuke looked up at the doctor helplessly. "Hold on. And don't look," he warned the other man as he tapped into his powers.

Henry glared but decided not to press the issue. He didn't want to agitate the patient any more and shouting certainly wouldn't help his case. So instead, he nodded and shut his eyes, wondering just what was going to happen. A flash of red light seared past his eyelids and faded away just as quickly. He cracked one eye open cautiously and saw that everything was all right. His eyebrows shot up into his thick graying fringe as he noticed that the patient's wounds were all gone. Judging from the stunned looks on his team's face, they too were surprised. "All right guys," he managed to say calmly. "Let's get 'em out of here."

Daisuke was grateful to the doctor for not asking questions, despite his concern for the purple-haired journalist. He stood up and grimaced at the state of his shirt when he realized that he was almost soaked in blood. _Better go and get changed now, _he thought to himself. _Before Risa or Riku start asking funny questions. _He looked around the corridor, ignoring the slightly confused looks he was getting from the other visitors. A quick glance at the sky told him that he had better be leaving. After all, he couldn't leave Krad to dine alone with the two girls. The poor guy would be miserable.

**Satoshi: **

Satoshi frowned lightly as he heard the voices outside his door. He thought he recognized the doctor, but he wasn't sure. He slipped out of the bed and moved towards the door, making sure to keep his footsteps quiet. He could have done without the slippers and certainly without the breeze at his back (it was making his hospital gown flap) but there was no way on earth he would dare step on the floors barefooted and he most certainly would _not_ take off the gown. He reached the door and listened carefully. "…crazy," the man was saying to someone else, presumably his companion.

"How he survived is beyond me, and did you see that red light? I swear…" The voices died out as the two men walked away and Satoshi growled slightly in frustration. The door suddenly swung open and before he could react, the journalist found himself sitting on the floor. He cursed to himself and set about trying to explain his actions to the not-so-kind looking lady in front of him.

**Dark: **

_99…100…101…102…103…104…argh! _Dark growled to himself in frustration and boredom. Counting the number of tiles on the left wall only kept one occupied for so long. He moved his arm out of the cold as a gust of wind blew in through the window. He sighed and shifted restlessly underneath the sheets as he thought about Daisuke again. _I hate it when people feel the need to pay you back for something you did for them. Even if it was just buying lunch and chatting. _The journalist scowled more deeply when he realized how ironic it was that they kept running into each other even though it was clear that neither had the desire to see the other. Running a hand through his hair, the journalist glared at the wall, determined to burn a hole through it or worse. Just as he was about to roll over, a burning, acrid smell reached his nose. All too familiar with the scent after his first few days learning to cook at university, the man looked around for the source of the smell. To his shock, there was a small flame dancing _on the wall_, where he'd been glaring. Without bothering to think, Dark hastily snatched one of the spare blankets off the night-table and flapped at the flame, trying to smother it. _Just my day, _he growled to himself. To his dismay, the flame grew larger and larger as he frantically beat at it. _Out! _He snarled, not sure why he was talking to a fire, of all things. _Go out and leave me in peace! _Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the flame died out and Dark collapsed on the bed, relieved. He looked at the sheet in his hands, trying to discern the areas where it had been burned. Surprisingly, there were no marks on the sheet. Frowning, Dark decided to go talk to Daisuke again. This time, not even a herd of those blasted dogs would stop him from seeing the redhead. With this comforting resolution made up in his mind, he sank down onto the bed and let sleep claim him.

**Daisuke and Krad: **

Daisuke was shooting him 'that look' again. Krad could feel it every time he moved his chopsticks from his bowl to his mouth. It was the 'I-have-something-very-important-to-tell-you' look, the one Daisuke had given him when they had still been in training and he had a pressing issue on his mind. The Guardian continued to eat calmly, disregarding the looks he was getting from Risa and Riku. Neither girl had asked what he'd been doing when he'd returned from the hospital covered in blood and gore, but he knew that they were dying to ask. The golden-eyed senior chanced a look up from his plate and upon seeing three pairs of eyes all focussed on him, he immediately glared. "What are you staring at?" he growled before shoveling more food into his bowl. Risa rolled her eyes, Riku glared and Daisuke snorted, a most un-Niwa-like thing to do. Krad continued eating.

Both friends were sprawled out on the couch, staring blankly at the horror movie playing. As a girl was decapitated, Krad drawled, "Care to share the rest of your day with me, Dai?" The petite Guardian turned to look at him.

"There's not much else to tell."

Krad sighed, leaning heavily on the other man. "Yeah right. And my mother still loves me." Daisuke sighed with difficulty, as he was close to being crushed by the other's weight.

"Krad, get off me."

"No."

A pause. "Why?"

"Because you're not telling me anything. You shoot me the 'Urgent' look at the dinner table but when we finally sit down to talk things out, you clam up. Just what _is _going on between you and that journalist, anyway?" Daisuke glared at his oldest friend, a hint of dark blue flashing through his crimson irises.

"Lay off, Krad." The blonde backed off, knowing that Daisuke was dangerously close to losing control.

"Hey," the other Guardian put his hands up in an 'I surrender' gesture. "Chill."

Daisuke promptly exploded. "Chill? You expect me to chill when there are Sharak running loose around this town? You expect me to chill when innocent lives are in danger? You expect me to chill when _we have no bloody clue as to what's going on in this place?_" Krad waited tersely, ready to run should the occasion arise. "I'll tell you what's wrong!" Daisuke fairly shouted. "THERE IS NOTHING WRONG! THAT'S WHAT'S WRONG! ALL YOU'RE DOING IS AGGRAVATING ME AND SITTING AROUND LOOKING PRETTY INSTEAD OF WORKING!" Krad growled and leaned forward, ignoring all the danger signals. He might have been fairly relaxed about some things, but he did not like being told he did nothing when he'd been practically _living_ in the vagaries of Azumano and looking for leads.

"Listen, you little—" he began hotly, when the argument was interrupted by Risa's presence.

"Hey guys, can you keep it down please?" she asked. "I'm trying to study for an exam tomorrow." Both men turned to her and apologized before returning to glaring at the TV. Or more accurately, one was glaring. The other was staring at the seat, playing with a loose thread.

"Thanks," Risa sarcastically said as she returned to her room. The pair sat in angry silence for another two hours, neither willing to talk to the other. When the film ended, both stood up. They silently made their way to their respective rooms, each steadfastly ignoring the other.

Daisuke flopped onto his bed, not bothering to change into his usual sleepwear. Ruby eyes stared up at the ceiling, glazed over as the student fell into memories long forgotten. _Father, _he thought wistfully. _I wish you were here to help me. _He and his father had shared a bond, despite the older one's frequent business trips. Kosuke Niwa had been the one to teach Daisuke about his duty as a Guardian and the one to send him to the Temple to learn. The redhead allowed a small smile to stretch his lips as he wrapped himself in a happy dream and slowly drifted off, anger forgotten.

Krad simmered in his room. Although he had been the one to ask for trouble-he'd continued to prod Daisuke even though he'd known the consequences-he still felt irritated at the way Daisuke trivialized all his work. _The only thing he's done is talk to Dark and angst over him, _the blond irritably thought. He threw himself into the bed, uncaring of the squeak of protest that the springs gave. Without warning, the entire construction collapsed with Krad on top of it. The Guardian growled angrily, eyes glowing with power and fury. "Son of a btch…" he growled as he waved a finger and the bed was restored. He fell into an uneasy sleep, fighting enemies even in his dreams.

**3am, Dark's house: **

The phone rang, its shrill tone echoing through the still flat. It continued to ring until a hand snaked its way out from beneath the sheets and crashed down onto the irritating device. "H-hullo?" Dark mumbled down the phone, still groggy. The sound of heavy breathing greeted him again.

"You again, huh bastard?" Dark growled down the phone. "Look, I'm not in the mood to—"

"Gotcha." The speaker's voice held a sort of sadistic, menacing glee in it. "I'm coming, Darkie, just you wait…" There was a click and once again the journalist was left staring at the phone. _This is getting too weird for words,_ the journalist thought to himself. _I have to find out who did this. _A glance at the clock made him groan; it was 3am and there would be no point in going back to sleep again as it took him about an hour to fall asleep and he had to wake up at 6 anyway. A chill swept up his spine and on impulse, Dark hit the Caller ID review button to see his mysterious caller's number. He desperately scrolled through all the calls he'd ever had recorded on the phone, but to his shock, neither number nor caller was registered. It was as though there had never been a caller at three am. _What the…? _

It was a groggy, grumpy journalist who greeted the new day. Amethyst eyes rimmed with red stared blearily at the coffee machine, hands moving slowly. The machine gave out a harsh, grating noise and then stopped, much to the gratitude of Dark. Staggering to the dining table, he managed to collapse into a chair before his knees gave way, all the while clutching his mug of hot, strong espresso. He sipped the liquid gratefully, feeling his nerves and senses come alive with the caffeine shot. His phone rang again and Dark repressed a shriek. He stared at the phone, the memory of the unpleasant call still fresh in his mind. The device continued ringing, Dark sitting there, afraid of what he might hear on the other end. It soon stopped and the journalist could only assume that the caller had met the answering machine.

Fifteen minutes later, Dark walked out of the house, whistling all the while. Today was Takeshi's day off, which meant that there would be no free ride for him in Sally the Colt. The purple-haired man hurried through the streets, not wanting to be alone after his phone call. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled and the man turned around, only to be met with nothingness. Frowning slightly, he turned to continue but the prickling persisted. Wait a minute…Dark's brow furrowed even deeper and he listened carefully whilst walking. Was that…was that the sound of a second pair of footsteps? He abruptly stopped and nearly screamed when the footsteps continued. Breaking into a run, he sprinted for the office in the distance. As he moved swiftly through the maze of streets, he thought deliriously, _I'm being attacked. At 6:30am. _

**Satoshi: **

He turned in bed restlessly, his body clock not allowing him to return to the world of dreams. Years of sleeping for three to four hours every night had made him the next closest thing to an insomniac and as a result, he either took sleeping pills five nights out of seven or he just read until he fell asleep. Since sleeping pills were not readily available in the vicinity, he contented himself with re-reading the novel his colleague had brought over from his house. Just as he had reached his favourite passage, he heard footsteps and whispering outside the door again. True to the Mongoose's Code, he gently placed the book on his lap and listened intently. "…this better be the right place. I'll kill you if it isn't." The blue-eyed journalist sighed and slipped silently out of bed, preparing for a fight. He didn't like physical fights as a general rule, but if things got dirty it was preferable that he could defend himself properly. However, the footsteps died away as the pair went down the corridor and Satoshi raised an eyebrow. _It was probably just another intern, _he told himself. _I've got a vivid imagination. _He then returned to the relative comfort of the bed and continued reading.

**Daisuke: **

The shrill sound of his alarm clock cut through the stillness of the room. Daisuke groaned and turned on his side to try and avoid the beeping device, but his efforts were to no avail. He sighed in irritation and a hand poked out of the blanket, flailing wildly before slamming down onto the Snooze button. The ringing stopped and the redheaded Guardian sighed in relief before turning around and returning to the Land of Dreams.

**Krad: **

Still in a somewhat agitated state, the blonde man rolled out of bed and landed heavily on the floor, uncaring of his condition. He sat on the floor for a while, waiting for his body to start functioning properly before attempting to haul himself into the bathroom. A glance at the clock showed him that both he and Daisuke were going to be incredibly late if they did not hurry up. Hastily splashing himself with cold water from the sink, he snatched a shirt and a pair of slacks and dashed down the corridor to Daisuke's room. Banging on the door, he yelled, "Daisuke, we're going to be LATE!" A crash and a few muffled curses from inside the room greeted his ears and Krad knew that he would have to help his counterpart if either of them wanted to get to class on time. Swiftly twisting the handle (and nearly yanking the door off its hinges in the process), he proceeded to shove Daisuke's head under the icy tap as a wake-up call, stuff him into some clothes snagged from the ground and drag him out the door. Ignoring the protests, moans, groans and sometimes shrieks that the other man emitted, of course.

Krad crashed through the doors of Azumano University, only to be greeted by empty corridors. He groaned at the thought of having to face his hot-tempered, impatient teacher and explain to her for the third time why he was late. Usually he wasn't; it was just that this week had been rather hectic, what with his little trip to the hospital and the whole mess with Dark. _Blasted journalist, _he thought irritably. Throwing Daisuke into one of the classrooms and startling the teacher, the senior headed off towards his own room.

**Daisuke: **

Suppressing a yawn, the freshman stared at his notes, his eyes slowly drooping as he fought to stay awake. He'd overslept again and it was only thanks to Krad that he'd managed to get to class relatively early (any later and he would have been marked as tardy). _Who on earth gets up at 6:30am to get ready for school, anyway? _He grumpily thought. The usually cheerful man was a lot darker today and as a result was scaring all the students in the immediate vicinity. Even Akutsu, a prankster who delighted in irritating him, was keeping his distance. Daisuke scowled at another of his classmates who dared to approach him, his foul mood only accentuated by his somewhat disheveled appearance. _It wouldn't _kill _them to stay away from me for a day, would it? _He made his way to Chemistry, shuffling through the notes in his oversized binder as he did so. As he entered the classroom, he froze in shock as he remembered that they were having a test on organic chemistry, the one aspect in which he most certainly did _not _excel. The teacher sat casually on the desk, counting the number of test papers. He looked up and smiled cheerfully at the poor freshman, greeting him as well and inquiring after his health. After forcing himself to reply somewhat politely, Daisuke sat down and flipped through the binder, desperately trying to cram for the test. All too soon, the bell rang and with a reluctant groan, Daisuke and the rest of the class put their books away and waited for the teacher to hand out the papers.

**An hour later: **

Daisuke was close to bursting into tears. He could only answer one page out of ten and even that one, he wasn't sure of. Giving up, he rested his forehead against the cool desk and sighed. His eyelids drooped and before he knew it, he was out for the count. Meanwhile, the teacher raised an eyebrow at Daisuke's slouched form and walked over, gently shaking him. "It's still exam conditions," he told the sleepy freshman cheerfully before moving on.

The exam soon came to an end and the redhead was overcome by a sense of foreboding as he handed his test paper in. The bell rang and the class filed out, all of them chattering about the test and the supposed answers. Not to his surprise, Daisuke found that most of his answers were wrong. _Today just isn't going my way, _he thought miserably. Much to his relief, the rest of the day passed as normal and he had even managed to shake off what Krad and Riku called, 'the post-exam blues'. He exited the building just in time to catch a glimpse of a familiar purple-haired figure standing just outside the gates. _What on Earth is he doing here? _Daisuke thought incredulously. Apparently, Krad must have thought the same thing, for he ran towards the figure, shouting as he went.

**Dark: **

After managing to lose his pursuer down an alleyway, the journalist circled back to the office, where he was duly shouted at for being late. After finding and writing two articles which, he felt, were sure to make headlines, he handed the work in for inspection. To his immense delight, the man grudgingly nodded and passed the articles back, telling him to hand them in to the editor and letting him go and find other stories for the evening paper. Worried about the morning's incident, Dark decided to stay in open, sunlit areas where there would be plenty of people. So far, his plan had worked and there was no sign of his stalker. Unfortunately (and Dark often cursed himself bitterly for this), he was now determined to get to the heart of the business and as a result was lurking around the university campus, hoping to pry something out from Daisuke. _Way to go, _he scolded himself, _you shout at him and pretty much tell him that you'd be happy never to see him again, and then you show up at the school. Real smooth, Dark. I bet he's thinking you're some creepy stalker guy now. _When he heard Krad shout his name, he made a face but continued running, suddenly thinking about just how harebrained his plan was. The journalist made his way down the streets, not even glancing back until someone grabbed his shoulder. Seized by a sudden, fleeting panic, he thought that his unknown was chasing him, but the irrational fear was soon quelled when he caught sight of a blond ponytail and sharp golden eyes. Giving the blond a sheepish grin, he stopped.

**Krad: **

_That guy had better have a good excuse for being around here, _Krad thought furiously as he sprinted after the purple-haired man. He finally caught up and grabbed his shoulder, spinning him around. For an instant, he detected a mindless panic behind those sharp amethysts, but it soon disappeared and the other could only offer up a sheepish grin in response to his glare. He heard Daisuke catch up and stop, panting, but he paid his partner no heed. Then Dark opened his mouth. "Hehe…would you believe me if I told you I was—"

"No." Krad cut the older one off sharply and used his height to intimidate him further. Just then, Daisuke placed a gentle hand on his arm.

"Krad, it's okay, I'm sure Dark has a decent explanation." Krad narrowed his eyes and then swung the full force of his glare at the journalist.

"You have thirty seconds. Starting from now." Dark hastily began to explain, ending with a question.

"So…got any clues as to who calls someone up at ungodly hours just to listen to them panting?" Dark tried to disperse some of the tension, but the joke fell miserably flat on its face. Krad glared and released him, although Dark could tell that he would have gladly strangulated him had it not been for his little tidbit of information. However, Daisuke interrupted with another question.

"How did you get so smashed up?" The redhead had a nasty suspicion at the back of his mind, but he wanted to hear everything from Dark's own lips.

Dark raised an eyebrow. "Not telling 'til you give me my answer."

Daisuke huffed in frustration, blowing some of the unruly bangs out of his face. "No."

The pair glared at each other, neither willing to back down. Finally, Dark gave up. "Fine," he remarked, "I'll just go sort the mess out myself, shall I? I wanted to ask you guys a question and maybe put your names in the papers and all, but I guess that's not happening. Well, toodles." With a jaunty wave, he turned his back towards the pair, unaware of the blush on Daisuke's face.

Krad looked from Daisuke to Dark and back again. He was surprised to see the hint of a blush on the younger one's cheeks and hid a smirk. _Oh-ho, so _that's _why you've got a bee in your bonnet, _he thought. Just as Dark turned to leave, he decided to prolong their anguish. "Wait a moment," he called. The man turned around, eyes cool. "We'll answer your questions-but on the basis of a question for a question. Agreed?"

Dark raised an eyebrow. "So…for every question I ask, you get to ask one of me?" Krad nodded, ignoring Daisuke's painful elbow. "…Fine." The blond Guardian allowed himself a triumphant smile, wincing as Daisuke hand firmly attached itself to his braid and _yanked. _

"What was that for?" He asked, rounding on the smaller one. Daisuke glared.

"You idiot!" He gritted out. Krad rolled his eyes.

"You know," he mildly observed, "Hatred is the first step to true love."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Dark demanded. Krad waggled a finger in his face.

"Ah-ah-ah," he laughed, "A question for a question. Daisuke was scolding me and I took the opportunity to…help your relationship along." Silence. Krad swept on, all the breeding that his family had ingrained into him now showing itself. "So, Dark Mousy, how did you get so smashed up?"

A sullen silence. Then, "Can we not talk about this here?" Krad raised an eyebrow.

"Well…if you insist. So where do you want to go?"

"My place," Dark replied without missing a beat. Krad was impressed in spite of himself; it was clear that Dark knew how to turn the tables quickly.

"All right," Daisuke replied shortly. "Let's go."

The journey was made in silence and there was a palpable tension in the air. Krad could tell that Daisuke's mood was rather sour at the moment and it was clear that Dark wasn't exactly happy either. "Look," Krad finally said, "I'd much rather not have you glaring daggers at each other, if that's all right. It's not pleasant talking to someone who hates your longtime best friend, you know." Dark rolled his eyes whilst Daisuke muttered under his breath. Krad cupped a hand around his ear and leaned down towards the shortest of them all. "Eh, what's that? He asked. "I can't hear you." In return for his pains, Krad received a dirty look that held promises of everlasting pain should he push the issue, so he hastily decided to leave things to cool down for a while.

Upon their arrival at the apartment block, Dark glared at both Guardians as though daring them to comment on the state of the area. Indeed, there was graffiti scrawled all over the walls, the paint on the ceiling and on the banisters was peeling off and there were very evident signs of other, smaller life forms on the stairwells. A musty odour permeated the air and Daisuke wrinkled his nose. Dark sneered and then stepped into the lift, which was dark and looked like it had not been cleaned for decades. "Welcome to the dark side of life," Dark humorlessly laughed, a harsh, grating sound that scraped on the nerves and startled Daisuke.

"I thought—" he stammered out. Dark rounded on him.

"You thought what? You thought I could afford better? Yes, well, we can't all be born rich you know." His eyes were cold and lifeless, almost like the time in the hospital. Krad did not say anything, merely placing a hand on Daisuke's shoulder. The bell chimed and the lift stopped, its doors wheezing as they opened. They proceeded down the corridor, Krad trying not to brush against the grimy walls. Finally, they stopped at Flat A. Surprisingly, the door was well polished and was about the only thing in the whole building that looked clean enough to touch. Dark pulled out a set of keys from his pocket and fitted the appropriate one into the lock. Just as he was about to get the door open, a scream echoed through the corridor and a loud crash followed. Krad noticed Dark's wince and the slight hunch in his shoulders as he flung the door open and walked quickly inside.

Daisuke was surprised, to say the least. The house was small and untidy, with papers flying all over the place, but there was a certain charm about it that put him at ease straight away. The white curtains were clean and crisp, and the floor was well-polished. From what he could see of the kitchen, it was also tidy and there was a corridor, leading off to the bedrooms and bathroom, he knew. From the look on Krad's face, he could tell that the blond Guardian was also surprised. "Nice house," Daisuke commented. Dark nodded and walked out again.

"I'll be right back," he gruffly said. "Make yourselves at home." The door banged shut after him.

"OI! SHUT UP, WILL YOU?" Both students blinked at the sheer volume to which Dark's voice was raised. There was a muffled reply, followed by a scream. Then Dark's voice started up again. "I MEAN IT!" A loud curse, followed by the sound of a door opening and shutting, then loud, angry footsteps. Krad calmly turned around and opened the door an inch, allowing both to see through the gap. They saw Dark, facing off with a red-faced, balding man.

"WHAT BUSINESS IS IT OF YOURS WHAT I DO?" The man roared.

"IT'S MY BUSINESS BECAUSE YOU'RE DISTURBING ME AND THE REST OF THE BUILDING TOO! NOW STOP BEATING YOUR WIFE AND GO PASS OUT-OR WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU DO WHEN YOU'RE NOT HIGH!" Dark roared back, equally angry.

"GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT, PRETTY BOY?"

"YEAH, I DO! SHUT UP AND STOP HURTING HER!"

The man sneered offensively and stepped towards the lanky journalist, pop-eyed with fury. When he was a mere inch away from the taller one's face, he said, "You've been screwing with her, haven't you?" Dark sighed and ran his fingers through his hair.

"You're making a ruckus, Rufus," he commented. "Shut up. And for your information, no, I haven't been. I've been a good little boy." Turning sharply on his heel, he returned to his apartment. Barely glancing up at the two Guardians, he shut the door, locked it and continued into the kitchen. "What would you like?" he asked loudly. "Tea? Coffee? Water? Juice?" Both Krad and Daisuke looked at each other and asked for tea, neither sure what to think anymore.

Dark seated himself on a chair, moving a stack of papers out of the way. "Now, about the dog…" He narrated the entire incident, conveniently omitting the fact that he had used something hot to drive the creature away. When he finished, both Krad and Daisuke were looking at him. There was no pity in their eyes, only a quiet sympathy, for which Dark was grateful. Then he asked, "So what about the caller?" Krad and Daisuke traded one of those deep looks that made the journalist somewhat uncomfortable.

Daisuke murmured, "Something big and bad is out there…and it wants you. We don't know why, nor how it got wind of your existence even, but it's there." Dark barked a harsh laugh.

"So there's something big and ugly's coming after me, and nothing is known about it?" Daisuke nodded.

"Pretty much." Dark rolled his eyes, thinking, _Huh. So much for asking them anything. _

Daisuke stared at the tabletop, tracing designs in it with his index finger. Then he looked up. "Dark?"

"Yeah?" The journalist answered carelessly, as though he couldn't care less about what they did now.

"Do-do you always do that?" Daisuke smiled weakly, attempting to joke but having it fall flat. Dark gave him a look and even Krad looked interested.

"What do you mean, 'that'?" The journalist suspiciously asked.

"You know…" Daisuke waved a hand. "Interfere with your neighbours." Dark snorted contemptuously.

"'Course not. I just did it because it'd be better if we had a quiet environment in which to talk. Anyhow, that pair always make a racket. If he's not beating her, she's shouting at him. I just want them to shut up so that we can have some peace." Daisuke blinked. _It's like he's a totally different person. Then again, the aura of this place is terrible. It reeks of despair and dead dreams. _Then Dark leaned forward. "Now, my question. Just what _are _you playing at, here?" Krad and Daisuke shot each other sharp looks. Krad sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"It's a long story."

"I'm listening." So they sat and they talked until late in the evening. A truce was reached and now they were two grudging allies instead of warring enemies. _An improvement, _Krad mused during Dark and Daisuke's conversation. _A very big improvement indeed._

* * *

Endlich bin ich fertig, oder? Thanks for reading this new chapter and I really hope you like it and review please! I've been seeing a lot of hits but there haven't been any reviews (well, one), so please please please review. It will also help me to improve, as constructive criticism is perfectly fine by me. It would also help the development of the story, as I don't mind listening to new ideas and what people like about the story, so I'd really appreciate it if you would take the time to review. Seriously. The story becomes more enjoyable for you (as the readers) and feedback is always a good thing. Thanks! Review please! (I'm so shameless). See you soon! 


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

Disclaimer: I don't own DN Angel. Capisce?

A/N: This fic will probably be on hiatus very soon, as I have major exams coming up (yes, AGAIN), so I really won't have time to type up any more chapters. I guess this will probably be my last one for quite a while (but if it's any comfort to you, it's going to be a long fanfic, probably longer than any other). Just thought you might appreciate it more if I told you. Thanks for reading up to here, and I hope you enjoy the latest installment of Journalist.

* * *

"Well, we're Guardians," Krad began, but was waved into silence by Dark.

"I know what you are, I just want to know why you're here. It's hardly the centre of evil, after all. It's just a sleepy little town with a couple of idiots here and there, but not a bad place at all."

Krad glared. "Will you let me finish?" Dark stared back, bristling. Daisuke eyed them warily, waiting for a fight to break out. Finally, the journalist leaned back into his chair and took a gulp of his drink, looking at Krad all the while.

"Fine."

The blonde huffed and continued. "Yeah, that's what we thought too. But, the Council gets to decide who goes where, not us." At Dark's interested look, he smirked to himself. "So Daisuke and I got posted here. In order to blend in, we had to attend the university here in order not to look too suspicious. I've been snooping around the back alleys for any word on what the Council felt was dangerous here, but so far the furthest we've gotten is an ugly presence residing in the newspaper offices."

Dark blinked. "That…was a lot more boring than I expected," he dryly commented.

"Please," Krad retorted. "Do you think this is some cliché little thing where I start pouring out both of our life stories on the spot because I feel so open? Forget it." He was about to say more, but Daisuke prevented him from doing so upon seeing that the pair were only going to antagonize each other further.

"Anyways," he hastily interrupted before either of the two older ones could burst into protests, "we can't tell you what's after you, because we don't know what it is either. Krad's been working very hard already, and…" Krad shot his partner a look. _Me? _The blonde thought incredulously. _Last night you were shouting at me for not doing enough! What are you playing at here, Daisuke? _

Dark sighed, holding up his hands to staunch the flow of words coming from Daisuke's mouth. "No need for verbal diarrhoea attacks," he observed, a small quirk of his lips accompanying the comment. Daisuke immediately clamped his mouth shut, his face flushing slightly. The journalist turned to Krad. "Care to continue what your friend started?" He must have sensed uneasiness from the blonde Guardian, as he looked at him calmly. To his shock, Krad actually found Dark's gaze more sympathetic and gentler than before. _Wonder if that's how he gets stories, _the Guardian mused before countering Dark's attack.

"So," he conversationally started, "What did this dog of yours look like?"

Dark blinked. "Um…big, black and ugly." Daisuke choked slightly on his tea and Krad turned to look at him. The three sat in an awkward silence, which was pierced only moments later by the sound of the phone ringing. The Guardian raised an eyebrow as he noticed that Dark looked somewhat worried before he hurried off to answer the phone, excusing himself as he went. A second later, the device was dropped to the floor and Dark was moving away from it hastily, his amethyst eyes wide with shock and fear. Daisuke had shot out of his chair as soon as he heard the crash of the phone falling to the ground and he hurried over to the distraught journalist, gently soothing him. Krad, on the other hand, grabbed the phone and held it to his ear. A dead line met his ears.

Dark couldn't believe what was happening. As soon as he'd picked up the phone, _that _voice was on the other end, whispering. This time, the threat was real; it had been whispering, "Blood, red blood, so pretty to look at…come and let me see your blood, taste your blood, rich redness dripping down your—" He'd dropped the phone at that point, unable to stand things any longer. He was already frightened from the morning phone call and the chase down the alleyways of Azumano, and this was the last straw. He knew he probably looked pathetic, but there was no way he was able to take any more of the constant fear and anxiety in which he now lived. He took shallow breaths, ignoring the warmth that surrounded him, choosing instead to look at the phone that Krad was now holding. The blonde's face held an expression of bewilderment and irritation as he stood there, looking at the piece of machinery as though it would brow fangs and start attacking at any minute.

Daisuke tried his best to soothe Dark without the use of his power; it was difficult though, seeing how agitated the man really was. It was as though the shouting match and the events leading up to his and Krad's being present here were all combining to make the journalist collapse. The redhead gently hugged Dark, whispering softly into his ear and rocking him gently. Looking at Krad over the shock of purple hair, he raised an eyebrow when Krad almost hurled the phone back onto its hook with a muffled curse. Just as Krad walked over, the door swung gently open as though it was pushed by a breeze, even though all three of them were sure that it had been locked and closed properly not a minute ago.

**Satoshi: **

Satoshi ran fingers distractedly through his hair, eyes holding a distant look in them. He was finally allowed to go home and as a result, he was a lot happier now. He decided to stop over at Dark's place, just to see how his friend was faring both at work and at home. He knew that there was something on his friend's mind; his personality had been somewhat toned down in the last few days and Satoshi was determined to find out why. He knew that it wasn't work; Dark never let work eat away at him. He had a feeling it was something to do with either Daisuke or that friend of his, but he couldn't be sure. After all, he knew that the pair had argued early on and as a result neither wanted to see the other again. Or so Dark had said.

He arrived at the apartment in good time. Looking around to make sure he wasn't being followed-this part of town was notorious for the number of crimes that took place in it-he walked into the dingy building. Two minutes later, he arrived at the apartment. To his surprise, the door was slightly ajar and he could hear voices from within. _That's odd…Dark would never leave his door open here. Especially not at this time. _He walked over to the door, never seeing the object lying on the doormat. Without warning, the door was pushed wider open and he blinked as he came face-to-face with a pair of golden eyes. "Who are you?" The blonde asked. Satoshi raised an eyebrow.

"Satoshi Hiwatari, Dark's friend and colleague. And you are…?" The other man merely rolled his eyes but moved to let him enter. Satoshi was horrified to see Dark sitting on the floor in Daisuke's arms, pale and distraught. He knew that the other was a tough man; he'd proven that when he'd questioned a known serial killer for an article-but something much bigger was in the works. He brushed past the stranger, forcing himself to walk calmly towards Dark. A delicate eyebrow shot up into the blue bangs as he saw that Dark was leaning into Daisuke. "What happened here?" Krad turned around and shot Satoshi a dirty look, golden eyes filled with disdain.

"He had a bit of a breakdown," he coolly replied. Blue eyes narrowed.

"Don't be an idiot," Satoshi snapped, his temper barely restrained. "Dark's not that weak. He wouldn't succumb to something unless it was really painful."

"Maybe it was," the other man answered, toying with something underneath his shirt.

"Guys, please don't fight," Daisuke pleaded from the floor. "Dark's already agitated and you two won't help." Krad snorted but said nothing, resorting to silent threats. The other journalist didn't bother responding; instead, he crouched on the floor and eyed Daisuke warily.

"I thought you hated each other," he dryly remarked. Daisuke just shrugged, mumbling something about misunderstandings. The older one blinked before shrugging it off. "What happened to him? It's probably best if you tell me now, when I've seen crazy things happen." The redhead eyed him suspiciously.

"Don't be stupid," Daisuke wearily responded. "I would do the same for anyone." Satoshi rolled his eyes but said nothing, joining the other on the floor. He place a gentle hand on the other's shoulder, knowing that he liked the comfort from the touch.

"Hey Dark, I'm out of hospital." A watery chuckle sounded from somewhere in Daisuke's shoulder and the purple-haired man turned towards him, giving a watery smile.

"Aw man, they let _you _out of the hospital? What about the rest of the clinically insane?" Dark smiled weakly at his own joke.

"They decided I was the best out of all of them," Satoshi deadpanned. Dark snickered and dramatically threw a hand over his forehead.

"What has the world come too?" He exclaimed, pretending to faint. Daisuke, meanwhile, smiled a little at the journalist's antics and wondered whether he should steal some tips out of Satoshi's book. The blue-haired man seemed to be quite at ease, cajoling his friend into a better mood in front of his friend's supposed ex and someone who he'd never before met in his life. As soon as Dark was back to his normal, dramatic self, Satoshi stood up and pulled his friend after him. Dark looked around him, amethyst eyes momentarily darkening at the sight of Krad standing at the door. Then he looked down, and for the first time seemed to notice Daisuke's wet shirt.

"Geez, what happened to you?" He exclaimed, as though he didn't know. Daisuke blinked, puzzled, then hastily smoothed out his features when he noticed Satoshi standing behind Dark, shaking his head and mouthing at him to 'go with the flow'. Daisuke pretending that he'd spilled something on himself in the kitchen. The purple-haired man shook his head and dragged him into the bathroom, cheerfully calling out to Krad and Satoshi that he was just going to get Daisuke a dry, clean shirt, leaving the other two in the living room alone.

Krad shifted uncomfortably under Satoshi's even blue gaze, feeling much like a child caught doing something naughty. _Is this guy a police officer or something? _He uncomfortably thought. Finally, Satoshi spoke. "Who are you?"

"Krad," The Guardian replied without thinking. "And you are…?"

"Satoshi Hiwatari."

"Oh." They sat in awkward silence, neither knowing what else to say. Satoshi took another stab at conversation. "Are you a friend of Daisuke's?"

"Yeah." Feeling obliged to say more, Krad asked, "How long have you known Dark for?" Satoshi's eyebrows shot up and the senior wondered whether he was going to be shouted at. The arches lowered and Krad blinked.

"Not a long time. Ever since he started working here."

"Oh." Krad was stumped. Focussing on the corridor leading to the bedrooms, he was surprised upon hearing nothing. No shouts, no screams, no nothing. The silence unnerved him. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled, a sign that he was being watched. He looked away from the doorway to find a pair of thoughtful blue eyes resting on him. Krad decided to examine the other party, considering that he was being looked at as well. He started from the head downwards. _Hmm…blue hair, blue eyes but dark brows. Did he dye his hair? _

"No, it's not dyed." The other man's voice held a tone of weariness to it, as though many others before Krad had questioned his hair colour. The aristocratic senior blinked. "Nice crucifix; may I please see it?" Satoshi's voice had changed from weariness to mild interest and golden eyes narrowed. _How did he…?_

"Everyone wonders the same thing," Satoshi drawled out. "And I can see the outline of your necklace underneath your shirt." Without another word, the student gently fished the pendant out from underneath his shirt and was about to pass the crucifix over when Dark and Daisuke entered the room, the latter now wearing an oversized black tank top.

"Ladies!" Dark yelled happily as he bounced in. Both Guardian and journalist jerked upwards, fingers brushing briefly. Unfortunately, Dark decided to make the most of this, as he rarely ever saw Satoshi anything other than calm, and because he hadn't forgotten his near-interrogation in the hospital ward. "Oh!" He placed a hand over his mouth in mock surprise. "I am ever so sorry. I'll just leave you two to your love then, eh?" He winked roguishly, ignoring the vein pulsing in Krad's forehead and the 'You-are-deader-than-dead' look on Satoshi's face. Dark happily turned to the redhead, who looked slightly overwhelmed. "Come now, dear," he cooed as he slung an arm around the younger one's shoulders. "We don't want to bother the lovebirds, do we?" He winked, causing Daisuke to blush. Cackling to himself, the purple-haired journalist ushered the redhead out of the room, ignoring the younger one's protests.

Satoshi and Krad were once more alone. Then the blue-eyed journalist reacted. "DARK!" He shot up off the couch, taking off after the laughing man. Krad was still too shocked to do anything, so he sat ramrod-straight in the couch, staring ahead. A stray thought skittered across his mind: _Why me? _

Dark yelped as he dashed into his bedroom and realized that he was cornered. Amethyst orbs flickered around, desperately looking for some means of escape. _Windows?_ _No-it hurts when you fall. Door? Yeah, sure, and run into Satoshi. Cupboard? Hm…it's worth looking into. _Before his partner in crime could say anything, Dark had shoved them both into the tiny walk in closet and slammed the door shut. Daisuke squeaked as he was almost crushed by Dark, as the closet was incredibly small and not built for holding more than one person at a time.

Satoshi walked into the bedroom, rolling his eyes. He didn't even need to think before guessing where Dark was hidden. Strolling over to the walk in closet, he knocked on the door and was rewarded by a muffled curse and another squeak. _Hm_…his glasses glinted in the darkness, catching the tiny points of light and reflecting them. Rapping briskly on the glass paned door of the walk-in, he called, "Hey, Dark, don't molest the poor guy! You're scaring him!" True to the other man's nature, the door shot open and a very disheveled pair rolled out at Satoshi's feet. The blue-eyed man looking down at Dark, the corners of his mouth twitching ever so slightly as he said, "You know, from up here, that looks horribly wrong." A squawk came from the pile and a muffled yelp was heard as Daisuke hastily tried to scramble out of the mess that was him and Dark. Turning on his heel, Satoshi walked away.

Daisuke winced as his face was mashed to the ground. His legs were somewhere above his head and there was an insistent weight on top of him. _Ugh…_he breathed deeply through his mouth and squirmed uncomfortably, trying to move. Above him, Dark was also struggling to move, muffled noises coming out of his mouth. After another two minutes Daisuke felt Dark get off him and he sat up, relieved. The journalist and the student stared at each other. Daisuke looked at Dark more carefully this time and noticed that despite his cheery demeanour and cocky smirk, there was a hint of insecurity in those violet depths. Just as he leaned in for a better look, that strange aura flared up around the journalist again and Daisuke wondered what it was. It was now brighter than before, and pulsed with life strength. Without warning, a vision swept in front of his eyes, his own power latching onto it.

_The dog mauled the child savagely. Daisuke immediately realized that this was Dark's memory of his encounter with that hellhound, or as they called it, Canis. He saw the creature rip off a part of the child's hand and suddenly his legs were moving and he was moving closer towards the monster. He tackled the furry thing and both went flying. His hands were moving with skilled ease, landing ferocious punches all over the place. The dog howled angrily as a punch caught it in the soft part below its ribs and using brute strength rolled him over, so that he was on the bottom. It leaned down to tear into its throat but was stopped by the fingers jabbing into its eyes. Daisuke winced at the thought but pushed it aside. The dog continued to attack, its slavering jaws coming closer to his throat and face with every passing minute. Daisuke winced and shut his-no, Dark's-eyes more tightly. A feeling welled up inside of him and it was all the redhead could to not to shriek in realization as his hand came up and a flare of white-hot heat burst through. Darkness slowly closed in on him as he heard shouts…_

"Woah there. You all right?" Daisuke looked up to find himself lying on a bed, a wet towel placed on his forehead and a pair of amethyst eyes staring deep into his own. He blushed and then remembered the white-hot heat.

"Dark!"

"Yes, that's my name." Daisuke shook his head.

"You didn't tell me about that heat!" he accused without thinking. Dark's eyes widened and Daisuke cringed. _Way to go, _he sarcastically congratulated himself. _Now he's going to start asking more. _

"There wasn't any heat!" Dark snapped defensively. His tone immediately made the hairs on Daisuke's back bristle and disregarding the towel on his head and his smaller, lighter stature, the diminutive Guardian shot up, off the bed, and promptly sat on the other man's chest. Dark flailed wildly as he lost his balance and landed heavily on the floor. Daisuke scanned what he could see of the darker one's face and skin, but there was nothing. He even grabbed Dark's hands and turned them palm up, checking the wrists and palms for anything. The skin there was smooth and unblemished; no sign of any marks there. Meanwhile, Dark was struggling half-heartedly on the ground beneath him, as he did not want to hurt anyone. Without warning, Daisuke saw his aura suddenly flare and he tried to move, but he could not avoid it. A bright heat surrounded him and he covered his eyes, his own Power forming a shield. Tendrils of the other light snaked out and wrapped themselves _around _him. Struggling, the redhead tried to break the ropes of light, but it was all to no avail. He found himself floating gently back onto the bed, where he was unceremoniously deposited. Opening his eyes, he stared in disbelief at Dark, who looked away. Before Daisuke could say anything, the journalist had walked into the bathroom, holding the little white washcloth that he'd used for Daisuke's forehead.

**Living Room: **

Satoshi scowled as he walked back out into the living room after seeing that the bedroom door was firmly shut. _Someone doesn't want to be disturbed, _he thought to himself, smirking slightly. _Oh well. All the more fun for me. _Looking at the blond man sitting on the sofa, he sighed to himself. _Okay. Time for some more idle chit-chat. _He'd never been a fan of small talk, but it seemed appropriate this time. Before he could say anything, though, Krad turned to him and asked, "What part of the newspaper do you contribute to?" Satoshi blinked.

"I do some of the cartoons," he replied, raising an eyebrow and waiting for Krad to make a mean comment about how he looked like the type who couldn't draw to save his life.

"Really?" Krad looked genuinely interested. "Which ones?"

"Occasionally I do the political cartoons, but there will be some days where I work on the funny pages," Satoshi told him, lips quirking upwards slightly.

"Wow," Krad grinned. "Were you the one who did that wicked cartoon about Elroy's comment on women's rights?"

Satoshi nodded, looking pleased. "Yeah," Krad continued. "I was laughing so hard at the 'Hausmann' jab," he chuckled. Satoshi nodded, remembering the cartoon all too well. However, the questions were getting closer and closer to home, which he didn't like. Casually, he leaned forward.

"So," he asked conversationally, "Got any plans as to what you'll do _after _you've left University?" He knew that it was a cliché question, but it was much better than 'What are you studying?'

"Uh…I'm not really sure, hehe." Krad carefully avoided Satoshi's gaze, nervously chuckling. The cartoonist shrugged.

"That's not a problem, although it does make life a little more difficult. Still, it means you have an unbiased mind," Satoshi pointed out. Krad nodded, not really sure on what to say. The awkward situation was soon remedied by the reappearance of Dark and Daisuke, both wearing inscrutable looks on their faces. Satoshi and Krad raised an eyebrow at their respective partners, who looked at each other and then away.

"Shut it," Dark growled at Satoshi, who was about to make an observation. Then he noticed the looks on their faces.

Wearing his special shyt-eating grin, Krad asked, "Was it any good?" Daisuke squawked in horror and embarrassment, whilst Dark choked.

"Better than you," Dark tartly replied. Krad turned up his nose in distaste whilst Satoshi merely placed a hand to his face, recognizing all the danger signals. A knock sounded at the door, making all four men turn towards it. Dark moved towards the entrance and flung the door wide open, only to meet with nothingness. The corridor was empty, the bright fluorescent white light illuminating the dark hallway. Frowning, Dark turned to look back at his visitors. "Did you hear a knock too?" They all nodded and suddenly Satoshi caught a glimpse of something lying on the ground from the gap between Dark's legs.

"Hey," he pointed. "What's that?" Dark looked downwards and blinked. It was a beautifully crafted porcelain doll, dressed neatly in a little dress and apron. Her hair gleamed in the light and everything about her suggested that she belonged to a young child or an avid doll collector. Dark blinked when he saw the eyes; they were of exactly the same shade as his own were. Bending down, he carefully picked the doll up and examined it more closely. Something about that pale, lifeless face gave him the creeps, just like those Chinese funeral servant dolls did. She stared back. A gentle touch on his shoulder brought him back to the real world and Dark turned around to see Satoshi, his eyes holding the unspoken question.

"I don't know," the journalist replied. "I honestly don't know."

Krad, being the taller of the two Guardians, was able to see over Satoshi's shoulder. His golden eyes widened and he hurriedly snatched the doll out of Dark's hands, ignoring the older man's protests. Daisuke, on the other hand, kept an eye on Dark. There was only one thing that could possibly make Krad react so violently and if he wasn't mistaken, that something had just turned up on Dark's doorstep.

In Krad's hands, the doll lay limply. No one realized that she had a tiny dagger concealed in the back of her dress until the blonde Guardian gave a yelp and almost dropped her, looking at his finger in shock. Satoshi calmly took the doll from the startled senior and examined it closely, raising an eyebrow when he noticed the tiny, needle-like weapon with a droplet of blood on it. Daisuke checked that his best friend was all right before turning his attentions to the doll that Dark had discovered and his worst suspicions were all confirmed. "_Sh_—" he softly hissed. Krad nodded in agreement and Dark looked in bewilderment from one Guardian to the other.

"Since you're obviously so shaken up, why don't you stay for dinner and we can talk some more?" he suggested. Both acquiesced. "Besides, I'm _dying _to know why there's a doll on my doorstep." Daisuke couldn't help but look up fearfully at Dark at this point, knowing that the violet-haired man's life was very, very close to ending. Especially now that the final warning had been sent.

* * *

Okay guys, what did you think? I know it was a lot of talk and a lot of filler here but seriously, I needed to try and add a little more to the storyline. I hope you guys don't mind…well anyways, thank you for reading up to here (if you managed to) and please do review, as I'm always up for new ideas and constructive criticism wouldn't be too bad either. So please, please review and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thanks! 


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: **

Disclaimer: I own the plot but not the show. Don't sue me.

* * *

Dark howled into his pillow as the alarm clock next to his ear shrilled to life. "Sh--!" He slammed a hand brutally down on the clock, but to his dismay it merely fell off the night table and continued ringing. "Ugh…"

He finally managed to get the ringing device to stop and twenty minutes later, a much wider-awake Dark Mousy strolled out of the bathroom. For the journalist, a shower was just the thing needed to kick-start his system. A dash into the kitchen and five minutes later, he was holding a warm wheat bagel in his hand. Just as he was about to walk out the door, the memory of the unknown caller and his unknown 'stalker' flashed into his mind. Shifting uneasily, Dark slowly returned to the kitchen and flung open the cabinet where he kept food such as bread and snacks. Pushing the food to one side, long fingers glided over the seemingly smooth panel of wood until they met with a slight bump. Dark gently pushed the knot in the wood and the panel slid open to reveal an assortment of small, easily concealable weapons such as knives, darts, guns and sais. However, the journalist's eyes were fixed on one particular gun. It was an old Browning. Gently removing the gun from its place on the wall, Dark turned it over in his hands. _To bring or not to bring…that is the question, _he wryly thought. Shutting his eyes, he tucked the weapon away and shut the compartment, making sure to hide the knot with a well-placed bag of chips. Feeling a heaviness make itself known in his heart, the journalist walked out of the door to catch the bus.

**Daisuke: **

Red eyes slowly opened and Daisuke bolted up in bed, worried. At first he thought he'd been kidnapped, but then he remembered that he and Krad had stayed over at Dark's for the night. A glance at the clock showed him that he, for once, was up in time for class. He even had time to get back to the dorms and grab his books! Smiling, the Guardian rolled out of bed and walked to the bathroom, just down the corridor. The apartment was amazingly quiet and Daisuke guessed that Dark had either gone to work or was still sleeping. He raised an eyebrow as he passed the journalist's room and saw that the bed was unmade. He found himself thinking of the older one almost affectionately and shook his head sadly, reminding himself of his duty. _Duty must always come first. _It was the basis for everything he had been taught.

**Krad: **

Krad woke up much less calmly than Daisuke did. His was already a suspicious nature and it did not help that he was lying on a futon instead of in his own, fragile bed. His eyes roamed around, looking for something with which to identify his surroundings. He caught sight of the white curtains and the man remembered. _Oh yeah, we stayed over at Dark's for the night. _He sat up on the futon and looked around, listening for any other signs of life in the house. He could hear the shower in the distance, but he had a feeling that it wasn't Dark who was using it. _Probably Daisuke, _he decided. Swinging himself off the futon, he ventured down the corridor to check on whether his host was awake or not. Then he shook his head; if Dark were around, Daisuke wouldn't be in the shower, singing that godawful tune that he sang every morning. The guy was so preppy, sometimes Krad thought he could give Hilary Duff and the rest of the world's 'teen queens' a run for their money. It was likely that he could beat Miss Risa Harada, too, the blond reflected. Marching up to the bathroom door, he knocked on his and yelled, "Are you going to be done any time soon?" A cheery affirmative was his reply and Krad was left to sulk in the living room for another five minutes before seeing his partner.

Daisuke stepped out of the bathroom, drying off his hair with a small towel. He'd found that Dark had pretty much thought of everything for both Krad and him and was grateful to the journalist for it. His thoughts then returned to the doll and he quickly walked into the living room, where he found a disgruntled Krad. "Morning," he greeted the blond senior.

Krad made a non-committal noise in his throat as a reply and stood up. "Let's go." The pair walked out of the house, but not before Daisuke grabbed a sheet of paper and scribbled out a hasty 'Thank-you' note to the journalist, who was obviously at work. Neither remembered the little porcelain doll, sitting on the dining table, alone and forgotten. Her eyes gleamed a little and her tiny, pale hands wrapped themselves around the hilt of her hidden dagger, but she could not do anything.

**Dark: **

Dark hurried into the office, throwing himself into the chair and hastily switching on the computer, skimming through his files and picking out any that looked to be promising-all at the same time. He was inwardly relieved to find that no one was following him this time, although shivers did run up his spine whenever he thought of the doll on his doorstep. Speaking of said doll, it was still at home. _And probably scaring the living daylights out of Krad and Dai, _he thought with a wry smile. The toy was creepy, but it was just a doll, right? Besides, the craftsmanship and care which had gone into the making of the toy was amazing; the hands were perfectly formed and the maker had even gone to the trouble of finding some synthetic material which made the doll's hair and eyelashes feel as soft and silky as normal human hair and eyelashes would.

Tapping on the keyboard, Dark scrolled through the pages of information from his sources. He selected a few that looked interesting and closed the browser window. Opening up his word processor, the journalist smirked as his fingers danced over the keyboard, weaving a story out of the facts that his 'mole' had given him. It was time to stun the people of Azumano once more. The gun lay in the inner pocket of his jacket, forgotten.

**Apartment: **

The doll looked around, her violet gaze blank and unfocused. A gentle breeze blew through the house although no windows were open. The wind increased in power until it was whipping about the place in a veritable fury, slashing at the curtains and furniture forcefully. The doll sat in the eye of the storm, her hair only moving slightly from the gale. Around her, angry howls rent the air, as though there were hundreds of tortured souls being beaten about her. She giggled to herself as she sat on the table, silken dress unruffled, hair untousled. Taking out her precious dagger, she caressed it, now ignoring the chaos around her. For a moment, if one were to have looked over her shoulder, one would have seen a mutilated human visage, but it was soon replaced by that of the smiling doll.

**Satoshi: **

He sketched out the next idea on a sheet of paper and tossed it to Kevin, who glanced at it and then raised an eyebrow before tossing it back. Satoshi knew that it meant acceptance of his cartoon and set to shading it. Twenty minutes later and he was finished. With a flourish of his pen, he tossed the sheet at Kevin once more and grabbed another article. "That one needs a sketch of Danz," the head cartoonist quietly commented. Satoshi shrugged and tossed it carelessly to the side.

"Search the image libraries, then." A man walked in, pushing his glasses further up his nose so as to see everyone better. _Pretentious bugger. _

"Fifteen minutes 'til sendoff," he barked into the room. No one moved to acknowledge him; various sounds were produced from throats and that was all the response he would get. Satoshi rolled his eyes and quickly sketched out another cartoon. He wondered how Dark was doing; the boss still hadn't forgotten the 'headline bet'. There was even an office pool going on about whether or not Dark would be able to meet the deadline.

**Dark: **

"Done!" The triumphant shout echoed through the office and everyone sighed in envy. More than once they had ventured to ask how he managed to cut things so finely and still get away with them, but the journalist only smiled and then diverted their attention to some other, trivial matter. Moments later, the other journalists were treated to the sight of a purple blur making its way through the aisles and up to the Boss' door.

Dark eyed the polished oak door warily, wondering whether his boss would be in a better mood today. The last few days had passed in a blur and the end of the month was just a week away. The good thing was, Dark felt that he had enough material to make four headlines. _There shouldn't be any problem. _Now he was standing in front of the editor's office, ready to claim his victory. The problem was, he didn't know what to expect. The last encounter with his boss had left him shaking and the events of the past few days seemed to all be building up to something. Shaking his head violently, Dark told himself sternly, _No. There is nothing wrong and if there is, you can blast him to thy Kingdom come. Now open the door! _He flung the door open and stepped in.

The editor sat at the desk, hands steepled. "Good morning, Mr. Mousy. How are you this morning?"

"I'm fine." Dark tossed the typed out articles onto the man's desk. "There are your headlines." He waited for the verdict as the man glanced at each article, his dark eyes unblinking.

"A good job, indeed. Congratulations. You get to keep your job." Dark stared in shock. Surely the man was joking? He didn't normally get off this easily!

"Is there something else?" Dark looked up hastily, smoothing out his features.

"No, nothing at all."

"Good." Dark left, knowing that this was the only cue he was going to get. He met Takeshi outside the door, who gave him the thumbs-up. Dark smirked and nodded smugly.

**Krad: **

Krad scowled at the board. He liked Physics well enough and occasionally found it interesting, but the teacher was giving him a headache and his voice had a soporific quality to it. The senior sighed and let his mind wander to the two journalists he'd met. Dark seemed like the type to enjoy a good argument, as shown by his constant bickering with Krad and Satoshi. Although it was clear he was missing more than just a few marbles, he seemed to be an okay sort of guy. Well, Daisuke certainly seemed to like him, even if he insisted on denying it. _Drama queen, _Krad sarcastically thought, rolling his eyes at the thought. Satoshi seemed to be a little more reserved in his actions. He was about to continue further along the path that his thoughts had taken when a hand smacked the desk.

"Huh?" Was all Krad could intelligently manage. The professor sighed.

"In what state do comets enter the atmosphere?" (I know this is really basic stuff but just bear with me here please).

"Uh…" Krad hastily searched his brain, but to no avail.

"They _sublime,_ Mr. Hikari," the teacher told him. "Which means…?"

"Oh. Gas. And partially solid."

The professor sighed again. "Well done," he sarcastically said. "But next time, pay attention." Krad dutifully nodded and turned his attention to the board. He wondered how Daisuke was faring.

**Daisuke: **

The redhead sighed and leaned his head on his hand, red eyes staring out the window. His right hand was still although it maintained a firm grip on the delicate stick of charcoal. Today's art lesson proved to be a drag; Professor Tanaki was absent, so the class was told to do still life drawings of their chosen topic. The theme was 'Structure', so Daisuke had chosen to do string, knots and woven structures. Luckily for him, the substitute was a soft-spoken, quiet little mouse of a Biology professor and as a result she did almost nothing to stop the class from pursuing other forms of work.

Daisuke wondered about the doll that Dark had found. He knew that it was only a matter of time before she began her work in deadly earnest, but there was a catch; she could only begin three days after her making. She might have stabbed Krad with her dagger, but nothing major would happen until the third day. _But I still need to figure out how to sever the link between her and Dark, _he thought worriedly. The journalist's face appeared in his mind and Daisuke smiled slightly, remembering the 'sleepover'. It had actually been quite fun, as the older one had insisted on pulling a movie marathon. It was, in fact, a wonder that he was so awake today, considering just how late the three of them had stayed up until, just talking and going through movies.

His thoughts turned to the actual man. Dark was…Dark. He was infuriatingly cocky at times, sardonic, quick on his feet and certainly sharp with his tongue. He had a way with people, undoubtedly; it was an endearing charm, the same type that got village ne'er-do-wells the approval of the entire county. He was quite easy on the eyes, too, what with those mischievous violet eyes and that long, wild mop of hair. Subconsciously, Daisuke's hand began to move and the charcoal touched the paper gently. A form began to take shape.

Daisuke's smile grew wistful and he didn't notice that he was blushing slightly as he thought about his new acquaintance. He didn't notice the form on the paper, either, until Al nudged him. "Wow, Daisuke, that's really good!"

"Huh?" Unknowingly echoing his friend, Daisuke looked down at his sheet of…filled paper.

"What are you doing for Structure? The human body?" Daisuke blushed and sheepishly laughed.

"Ah, well, I was planning on doing…"

"Don't tell me; woven structures, right?" Daisuke looked at his sandy-haired classmate and nodded, surprised.

"Yeah. That's an amazing sketch though. I could never do that," Al said admiringly. Daisuke vigorously shook his head.

"No, I'm sure you could! Yours looks really good, too!" A customary reply, but one that was made in all sincerity. Alphonse Elric _was _good at Art; his paintings held a certain something in them that marked them uniquely as his, and not someone else's. No matter how hard one tried, one would never be able to emulate Al perfectly. The other student had chosen buildings as his subject and he was in the middle of painting a cathedral, its spires reaching into the heavens. "It's so cool how you can make all your work look so personal!" Al blushed and shook his head.

Daisuke looked over his sketch carefully, amazed at the way he'd drawn Dark. The journalist was standing on the edge of a cliff, but from his posture and stance, it was clear that he was at ease with his position. His eyes stared into the distance, a hint of his trademark smirk playing about his lips. His hair whipped around his face in a frenzy and his coat was blown back by an unfelt wind. Every inch of his body was cloaked in a sure confidence. _Oh, will ya take a look at that. Now look me in the eye and say you don't like Dark, _Daisuke's little voice mocked. The teenager blushed and hastily stood up, intending to go for another piece of paper and draw his basket properly this time.

**Lunchtime: **

"Hey Dai," Krad greeted his freshman friend. "How was Art?" He looked at the case Daisuke was holding, knowing that there was paper inside.

"Heh…" Daisuke blushed, not wanting to tell Krad just what he had spent his Art lesson doing. "Well, I…" Krad leaned forward, a devilish glint in his golden eyes.

"I knew it! You spent the entire lesson writing 'Daisuke Niwa Mousy' in your sketchbook, didn't you?" the older gleefully accused. At the squawk, he laughed harder. "I knew it! You _like _him!"

Daisuke went an even deeper shade of red. "N-no I don't! He's arrogant, and irresponsible, and crazy, and ditzy, and…! And I didn't spend the entire Art lesson doodling," he hastily added. Krad raised an eyebrow and waggled his finger.

"Shame on you," Krad mock-scolded. "How could you say such things about the man who allowed us to stay over at his place even though he barely knew us?" Daisuke flushed and the blond laughed at his distraught state.

"It's all right," he said calmly. "We all have our moments." Daisuke merely choked out something that sounded like a cross between a moan and a sigh in reply. The two friends then continued to the canteen, where both cringed at the offered lunches and opted for a rock-hard (but still edible) granola bar.

Outside, Daisuke double-checked his schedule and winced when he saw that Chemistry was next. "No," he moaned. "We're getting our Chem tests back today!" Krad looked sympathetically at his friend and patted his back.

"There, there. I'm sure you passed."

"That's the thing," Daisuke groaned. "At least I scraped 'B's last semester. This semester, I've been failing every single test!" Golden eyes regarded him thoughtfully.

"You know, I could tutor you," the elder offered. Daisuke looked up at him. There was an awkward pause before Krad hastily retracted the offer, remembering what had happened the last time he'd offered to tutor someone. That person still ran away screaming for help whenever he saw the blond senior.

"A wise decision," Daisuke sagely responded before dodging a swipe from his best friend. All too soon, the bell signaling the end of lunch rang and Daisuke stood up with a heavy heart, dreading the Chemistry lesson.

**Dark: **

Dark casually leaned on Takeshi, watching his friend tap away furiously at the keyboard. He was now working on the Business section of the newspaper, trying to fit every single article on four pages of A3. His dark brows were furrowed in concentration as he carefully moved a picture around, trying not to drop it somewhere ridiculous. "Come on…" he whispered. Then Dark reached down and deliberately pressed the 'Delete' button on the keyboard. Takeshi threw himself backwards violently, catching Dark in the nose and letting out an earsplitting expletive. Then he rounded viciously on his fellow journalist. "You SOB, can't you _wait_?" he bellowed. Dark smirked and left the tiny office, cackling to himself in spite of the throbbing pain in his nose. The rest of the day passed in humdrum, apart from when Dark jammed the copy machine by putting in too much paper. That evening, he and Takeshi shared a beer and went home in Sally.

**Daisuke: **

Daisuke smiled cheerily at Risa and Riku, both of whom were sitting in the living room, watching TV. "What's on?" he casually asked.

"The OC," Risa promptly replied whilst Riku made a face. "Don't do that, Riku," Risa scolded her twin. "It's a good series!"

"Yeah, right," Riku replied, rolling her eyes. "It's so fake."

"But you still watch it," the younger one pointed out reasonably. Riku merely sniffed in reply and turned back to the television. Daisuke smiled slightly at the argument and then looked at the screen. After five minutes, he decided that he had better things to do and left the room.

"Ugh…I hate moles," Daisuke quietly groaned to himself. "I never understood them. Never." He tapped away at the calculator again, inputting figures and coming up with the same (wrong) answer for the fifteenth time. He sighed and flipped further through the paper, looking for his next mistake. Finding it, he eyed the question and flipped through his textbook, searching for the answer. He applied himself to Chemistry for the rest of the afternoon, occasionally falling into daydreams of Dark.

**Dark: **

Dark threw the garlic into the frying pan, singing along to the radio. He knew it was an incredibly cheesy thing to do, but it was one of his little habits all the same. Holding the spoon close to his mouth, Dark sang happily. "It's like you're always stuck in second gear, when it hasn't been your day, your week, your month or even your year…" He added the rice and egg at some point, continuing to sing. Just then, the phone rang.

Cursing, Dark ran out into the living room, grabbed the ringing device and carried it back into the kitchen with him. "Hello?"

To his relief, Krad was on the other end of the line. "Dark."

"Yeah?"

"…how are you?" There was a pause and then Dark smiled.

"I'm doing just fine, Krad. I'd be even better if I didn't have to chat to you whilst cooking dinner." He could sense the blond rolling his eyes. "Hey, no one asked you to call," he cheekily pointed out.

"Yes, well, someone had to check on you. Dai's busy crying right now, so the task fell to me. Rest assured; I will try not to call too much." The sarcasm was evident in the senior's voice.

"Really?"

"Huh? Oh, the crying. Yes, well, he got his Chem test back today."

"Mhm." Dark absentmindedly stirred the mixture of egg and rice before adding the kimchee. "Is he okay?"

"My God, you sound like his mother or something."

"No need to be profane," Dark retorted. "I just happen to remember the post test blues, that's all." Krad snorted down the phone.

"_You _had post-test blues?"

Dark frowned lightly. "Hey Mister, just because I don't act like a nerd doesn't mean I didn't have guilt issues over grades."

Krad ignored this comment, continuing. "Anyways, where's the doll?"

Dark paused before looking out the kitchen doorway once more. "Uh…I think she's on the dining table. Why?"

At the other end, Krad rubbed his temples. "Listen," the Guardian told Dark. "You have to know where that…that thing is, even if it means carrying it around with you. You have to keep an eye on it!" Just at that moment, Dark became aware that Krad's voice sounded hollow, as though someone was listening to the conversation on another line. He frowned.

"Hello?" There was silence. Then Krad spoke.

"Dark, this isn't funny."

"I wasn't trying to be funny; it sounds as though someone else is listening to what we're saying." There was a horrified pause and Dark sarcastically said, "I bet that's the doll, listening to the phone too."

In a strained voice, Krad gritted out, "Get her. Now." Dark rolled his eyes.

"Look buddy, she's just a doll." Dark didn't notice the use of the pronoun 'she' instead of 'it'. "She's not going to go on a homicidal rampage any time soon; you told me that!"

Krad laughed grimly. "She's already doing her work. She's already putting a rift in this…thread of rapport of ours." Dark didn't say anything.

"Well, tell Dai if he needs anyone to talk to about Chemistry or whatever, I'm available. Thanks and bye." With those words, Dark hung up. He glared at the rice in front of him and turned off the stove, leaving it to cool for a while. Walking back out into the living room with the telephone in his hand, he suddenly froze. The doll was gone.

He crashed into his bedroom and to his shock, the doll was sitting next to the telephone. Which was hanging off the cradle. _Maybe there's something to Krad's warnings. _

Picking up his newest acquisition, the journalist examined the plaything more closely. _Looks just like a normal doll, _he thought to himself. _Well, it's a little scarier than most, but that's probably just me. _He'd always hated porcelain dolls, the way their smiles were so empty and the way they looked human and not human at the same time. _Maybe I should consider getting rid of it, _Dark thought. It didn't occur to him to give the doll away at all.

An hour later, after the washing up was done, Dark stood in the middle of the clean kitchen, thinking. _I don't want to watch TV tonight, _he thought. _And I certainly don't want to sleep yet. Maybe I should go out, _he thought. Just then, the phone rang again. _It's been doing that a lot lately, _Dark thought. "Hello?"

The awful sound of heavy breathing greeted his ears. A prickling crept up the back of the journalist's neck and amethyst eyes widened as he slowly turned around with a growing sense of dread.

**Daisuke and Krad: **

Krad sighed as Risa attached herself to his arm for the fourth time that night. "What do you want, Risa?" he asked the twin as he peeled her off. Ignoring the fluttering eyelashes and the annoying, syrupy voice, he concentrated on what she was saying instead. Then he paled. "No! A thousand times no!" It turned out the younger Harada twin was asking him to tutor her in Calculus. She could not get the hang of it, no matter how hard she tried, and Krad knew that any tutoring sessions between him and her would end in disaster. Just then, he felt his pendant grow hot again and when Daisuke flew out of his room, clutching his pendant, Krad knew that he wasn't going to be bored tonight.

Two minutes later, they were racing down the darkened streets of Azumano on Krad's motorcycle. "That idiot," Krad grumbled.

"Don't call him that, please," Daisuke begged in a small voice from the back of the machine.

"He is." Krad continued to verbally abuse Dark until they pulled up at the building. Krad nodded at Daisuke. "You go first. I'll finish parking." The redhead rolled his eyes and crept up the stairs, using his pendant to guide him to the source of darkness. As he placed a hand on the door to push it open with his magick, the Guardian heard a gunshot. Wildly looking around, he hoped that someone would come. Large numbers always drove evil away more quickly.

**Krad: **

He quickly chained the motorcycle to the railing and dashed upstairs, hoping nothing bad had happened yet. Golden eyes narrowed as a sound came from somewhere to his right, and Krad winced as the pendant seared into his flesh as it grew even hotter than before. "Who's there?" he asked the darkness. Suddenly, dark tendrils wrapped themselves around him and Krad struggled violently against them. "Let me go!" he snarled at his invisible enemy.

"I think not," an amused voice replied.

"You'd better," the blond Guardian demanded. "Or else you'll face the consequences."

"Still as psychotic as ever, eh? All right then; keep your socks on." Krad snarled angrily at the figure who suddenly appeared.

"This isn't funny," he snapped. "Let me go. You know exactly what's going on around here, don't you?" he asked.

"Ach, ja, natuerlich," the other replied cheerfully. Krad winced at the language but glared fiercely at his captor nonetheless.

"Sind Sie verrueckt?" he demanded angrily once more in German. "Wissen Sie, dass etwas gefaehrlich da oben ist?"

"Aber ja," the other silkily replied.

"Dann lassen mir allein!" Krad snarled.

"Sie sollen nicht so unhoeflich sein," the dark figure replied. "Ich brauche etwas fragen."

"Dammit, you promised to help others in their time of need!" Krad shouted desperately, reverting to English.

"I did," the unknown man agreed. "But it grew tiresome." Golden eyes flashed dangerously and Krad let out an almighty roar of rage as his pendant glowed brightly.

"This is going too far!"

A smirk tugged at his captor's lips before he was thrown backwards into the wall. "Chains of Light!" Krad hurled the glowing chains at the other, but he was too slow.

"Tsk tsk Krad, still so violent. You haven't learned anything in this godforsaken place, have you?"

"Shut it!" They battled, Krad desperately trying to shake the other off so that he could go help Daisuke. _Dai, you might be on your own for this one, _he desperately thought as a glowing shuriken buried itself in the tiles next to his head and promptly exploded.

**Dark: **

Without thinking, Dark whipped around, pulling the gun out. He fired three shots in rapid succession before stopping to look at the thing behind him. It was hideous, even more so than what he'd seen in the office right before this whole crazy mess started. He swore loudly as the thing took a swipe at his head, disregarding the chunks of flesh it was now missing from its head. He vaguely heard the door shaking, but could not do anything about it except pray. _Although it's unlikely that anyone will come, considering how normal violence is in this building, _Dark thought grimly. He continued to fight the thing, trying not to gag from the smell of rot and decay that it was giving off.

The door flew open and Dark glanced over, hoping it wasn't something worse. To his relief, Daisuke stood there, hands still outstretched. "Hey Dai, join the party," Dark joked, his face pale. Then turning back to the monster, he winked. "Be right back, babe," he laughed as he turned towards the kitchen and ran.

Daisuke couldn't believe his ears. _He's fighting one of _those _and he's still cracking jokes? Yup, he's definitely insane. Krad was right. _He stared in horror as the journalist ran to the kitchen and flung open a cupboard. His eyes only widened as the man began tossing out chips and other snack foods onto the ground. Then he heard a grinding noise and two seconds later, Dark was out again, armed to the teeth. _He has a secret weapons stash? _Was all the Guardian could manage to think before he, too, joined the fray.

Dark slashed at the monster with his daggers, wincing as the thing somehow managed to clamp down on his arm and burn it. He hissed angrily, yanking his arm sharply back and slashing furiously at the rotting tendril. However, the monster was like dough-slashing it apart only slowed it down and even then not by much. Looking over at Daisuke, Dark almost screamed. The Guardian was drawing a design in the ground with what looked like flour. "You'd better have something up your sleeve, Dai, because I don't!" Dark's thumb brushed over the jewel in the hilt of his daggers and without warning, the blade grew longer, as though it had been hidden in the handle all along. Now the purple-haired man was wielding a dirk of sorts and he smirked triumphantly. "Yeah baby!" he crowed, slashing even more vigorously at the thing. "Take this!" Dark drove his other dagger into the creature's eyes and it shrieked, a horrible noise by anyone's standards. Just then, Daisuke finished his design and placed a hand to it, activating the magick within. In just a few moments, the monster disintegrated into a fine powder, which was blown out the window by a summoned wind. Dark turned to face the redhead.

"Thanks," he said before wincing and looking at his arm. It was blackened, as though he had plunged it into a blazing flame. "I'd better go get this fixed up." He slowly walked back towards the kitchen, dropping the daggers along the way. Daisuke stood still, looking at the weapons with a raised eyebrow. _Looks like still waters run deep, _he thought as he watched the man reach for some bandages.

"Oh, here!" Daisuke rushed over to help Dark right away. As he did so, he smiled reassuringly at the elder one, who merely rolled his eyes and continued reaching for the plasters. "On second thoughts, don't bother," he said cheerily as he gently placed a hand on the wound. Dark hissed and tried to pull back, but Daisuke had him in a firm grip. "Just hold still, 'kay?" Light blazed from the wound and to the journalist's amazement, flesh knitted together and his arm was whole again. "There," Daisuke smiled, "All done!"

Right at that moment, Dark's neighbour chose to burst in. "WILL YOU CUT THAT RACKET OUT!" he bellowed into the apartment. Dark ignored him. The irate neighbour stormed over and grabbed a handful of Dark's hair roughly, ignoring the wince.

"I SAID, 'WILL YOU KEEP THINGS DOWN? YOU MAY BE HAVING A LOVER'S SPAT, BUT I'M NOT GOING TO TOLERATE YOUR NOISE! GOT THAT?" Dark glared venomously at the man.

"Look Vincent," he quietly said, "I don't need your crap tonight. So get yourself out of here before I _really _get angry." Vincent snorted and kneed Dark in the groin before walking out again.

"Ow…" Dark winced. _This is the second time already! I may as well just join a monastery, what with the damage I'm taking right now. _Daisuke could only wince and flush-there was no way on _earth _he was going to touch that place. Just then, a disheveled looking Krad appeared, holding his battleaxe in front of him.

"What's going on?" he called in. "Dai?"

"I'm here!" Daisuke called before looking down at the crumpled heap at his feet. He sighed before placing a hand to Dark's forehead. Krad walked in, still tense and holding the dagger/dirk that the journalist had been using.

"Hey man," Dark croaked up at Krad. "I got kicked."

Krad gave him a look of utter contempt before turning to Daisuke. "What happened?"

The redhead shrugged.

"He was being attacked by something big and ugly." Krad raised an eyebrow.

"Is that all?"

"Heh, yeah," Dark staggered to his feet, wincing at the pain Vincent had caused him. Krad looked at him sharply.

"What happened?"

"Neighbour," Dark croaked out. "Did more damage than the monster did, really." Daisuke blushed lightly and Krad swung his golden gaze back to the crimson one of his partner.

"So," Daisuke casually asked. "What about you?"

Krad shrugged. "I got attacked in the corridor."

"By the thugs, you mean?" Dark brightly asked. At the withering gaze from both Guardians, he quickly fell silent.

"I think I saw him, but I'm not sure." Daisuke looked confused and Krad glared at him irritably. "You know," he curtly said. "_Him_." Daisuke continued to look confused until Krad waved his hands.

"Ah," the redhead said, enlightened. "Right. Him."

Krad rolled his eyes and sarcastically said, "You know, if you weren't a redhead, I'd say you were having a blond moment." Daisuke pouted. Then the older Guardian turned once more to Dark, holding the dagger out to him. "And as for you, you'd better explain why you have something like this in your house."

Dark rolled his eyes. "My secret, my life. Nose," he leaned forward, "out." With those words, he flicked Krad's nose gently. "Don't ask again." The blond rubbed his nose, blinking in surprise. Then he looked around.

"Daisuke," he said, "maybe we should stay here for the night. After all, goodness knows what other scrapes Dark's going to get into." Ignoring the protests from the journalist, he walked over to the futon and looked at it. "Dark!" he called from the living room. "How do you open this thing?"

**Two hours later: **

The three men were once more huddled up on the couch, watching old horror movies. Daisuke, the most squeamish of the three, winced and shut his eyes tightly, hand so tightly wrapped around Dark's shirt that the knuckles were white. As the three watched the killer approach his victim singing 'Humpty Dumpty', Krad and Dark both burst out laughing whilst Daisuke whimpered and snuggled closer to the journalist. "I bet fifty dollars she pisses herself," Dark hooted.

Krad laughed so hard he nearly fell off the couch. "What a moron!" he gasped out between gasps for air. "What kind of idiot sings Humpty Dumpty, anyway?" The scene moved on to show the girl being disemboweled in all its gory detail and Daisuke let out a terrified squeak. At the sound, he brought the two back to their senses and Dark looked somewhat sympathetically at Daisuke.

"Come on," he said bracingly. "It's not really that bad. Honest." Daisuke shook his head violently and buried his head in Dark's chest. Krad snickered whilst the journalist turned an interesting shade of red. "…how about we watch a comedy, then?" he finally suggested. Daisuke looked up, ruby eyes hopeful.

"No more horror movies?" He asked.

Dark sighed and looked over at Krad. "No," he finally said. "No more." Daisuke beamed at him and Dark felt a warm sensation in his chest, suddenly feeling that seeing that big smile was compensation enough.

The three finally settled on a Stephen Chow movie, namely, 'Shaolin Soccer'. Daisuke found himself much more at ease now, but blushed at some of the lewder jokes, such as when one of the team players was nearly molested, as he had egg on the front of his pants.

The movie finally ended at around 2:30am, by which time even Krad was starting to doze off. Dark grinned crookedly and headed off to bed, picking up the sharp objects along the way. After all, no one like to wake up to slashed feet. As he was about to turn the lights off, Daisuke asked, "Where are you going?"

"Bed," Dark replied, slightly amused at such a naïve question.

"Mm…I'll come with you," the redhead softly said.

"Eh?" Dark wasn't sure he'd heard Daisuke correctly.

"I said, 'I'll come with you'. You shouldn't be alone, especially after what happened earlier this evening." Dark ran his fingers through his hair distractedly.

"There's only one bed," he pointed out.

"Then we'll share," Daisuke decisively replied. "It's okay," he added, mistaking Dark's expression for one of incredulity. "I had to do it with Krad." Seeing the hentai smirk on the journalist's face, Daisuke shook his head violently, red locks whipping about. "Not that way!" he cried, distraught. Dark patted his back.

"No, no," he answered with a laugh in his voice. "Of course not. Besides, Krad's your friend. I'm someone you don't know the first thing about. So don't even think about it." Daisuke glared stubbornly, red eyes fierce.

"No!" Dark hastily backed off, slightly worried. Daisuke softened his tone slightly.

"Look, it's just for tonight, okay?" Dark was about to say no when he saw the 'kicked-puppy' look on the redhead's face.

"Eh…."

"Please?" Daisuke turned up the charm.

"Oh all right," the journalist grudgingly replied. "But no…funny business, all right?" Daisuke nodded cheerfully.

"Of course not!"

Dark followed Daisuke into his bedroom, inwardly moaning and groaning. _The possibilities…they're infinite,_ he moaned to himself. Tossing his shirt off, he threw himself into the bed, blind to the light blush dusting Daisuke's cheeks. "G'night," he yawned before falling asleep, leaving the redhead to turn off the light.

**Next morning: **

Ruby eyes cracked open and Daisuke blinked as he stared straight into Dark's sleeping face. With a small smile, he gently brushed some of the wayward purple bangs, which had fallen into the journalist's face and were in danger of entering his mouth every time he inhaled. _He looks so serene, _Daisuke observed. _And I can see why Risa likes him so much. _At this thought, the redhead flushed darkly. Unconsciously he leaned closer, examining Dark's face in minute detail. Just then, Dark's eyelids fluttered slightly as he, too, slowly awakened.

Sleepy amethyst met sharp crimson and the pair stared at each other before Dark sat up quickly, looking down at himself. He was mumbling to himself and Daisuke blinked before listening more closely. Then Dark turned to him, eyes worried. "Did we…" he paused, then took a deep breath. Daisuke blinked, left in the dark (no pun intended). "Didwesleeptogetherlastnight?" shot out of the journalist's mouth. Daisuke frowned before his brain deciphered the garbled words and he flushed a deep shade of crimson.

"No!"

A burst of laughter came from the doorway and Dark glared balefully at it, mumbling, "I had to _ask_," in his defence. Krad stood at the doorway, clutching his sides.

"Oh gods," he gasped out, "The look on your faces!" He burst into another round of laughter whilst Dark and Daisuke looked at each other, faces red. Then Dark turned to the blond senior.

"Hey, at least it would have been good. Unlike with you." Daisuke could only squeak and bury himself deeper in the bed whilst the older pair bickered.

* * *

Done! I didn't think I would get anything up, but I guess this chapter proved me wrong. Now, to go finish studying (looks around guiltily). Please tell me if you enjoyed this chapter and some feedback would be nice, mm yes, very nice indeed. That's a plea for reviews, in case you didn't get it. Thanks for reading, and review please!

* * *

-Translation (German conversation)-

Figure: Yes, of course, naturally.

Krad: Are you crazy? Don't you know there's something dangerous up there?

F: But of course!

K: Then leave me alone!

F: You shouldn't be so impolite. I need to ask something.

-End-

* * *

Please tell me if the German's funny, I'm taking a German exam this year but my grammar's terrible…so yeah. Just tell me please. Thanks. Reviews please! 


	9. Chapter 9

**Journalist 9:**

Disclaimer: I don't own DN Angel. Capisce?

Warnings: Er…bad attempts at gory scenes? Everything's pretty much been said already.

Dark and the two Guardians had separated for the day, both agreeing that they would not have time to meet for the next week or so. Although Daisuke still had misgivings about the porcelain doll, he knew that it would be impossible to keep an eye on Dark without neglecting his studies or arousing suspicion in his friends and teachers. The redhead threw himself into studies once more, trying to keep his mind off Dark. Finding out just what was going on in Azumano was much more important at this stage, especially now that the higher-ups were starting to get fidgety.

**

* * *

Wednesday night:**

He was back at home again, taking a shower in the old bathroom. The pipes rattled and shook the walls, hissing and banging. However, the water was hot, and for once it did not run out before had finished. Stepping out onto the cold tiles, he dried himself off and slipped into his usual 'home-wear', a pair of sweatpants and an oversized shirt. He washed his face quickly before looking up into the large mirror to see whether he had missed any bits of dirt that might have clung desperately to his eyelashes. As though in a horror movie, the sharp image suddenly began to blur and whirl, violet the only distinguishable colour in the wheel. He suddenly saw his own face again, sharp as ever. However, this time the sight was accompanied by searing, agonizing pain. It was as though someone had placed a hot iron on his face and slashed it with a barbed whip repeatedly. He forced himself to look into the mirror and screamed at the image. His own face, bloodied and torn beyond recognition, one eye ripped clean out of the socket, lips twisted into a ghoulish grin, stared straight back at him.

He shut his eyes tightly, refusing to open them. Twisting in the blankets, he tried to move but found that he couldn't. "Three blind mice…three blind mice…" Slowly, carefully he opened his eyes…and pain seared through his left eye. Dark reeled upwards, jerking his head sideways. He could feel blood gushing out of his left eye socket and he hastily clapped a hand over his right eye, trying to protect it. Cursing, he reached out with his other free hand and it closed around a delicate, cold wrist. Through the red mist and the slits in his fingers, he could see her, smiling coolly as ever, her transmuted dagger of a left hand piercing his left eye. White heat washed over him and he saw her delicate porcelain features crack, the look of unmasked fury on her face as she shattered into a thousand-no, a million-pieces. He finally found the strength to scream and poured himself into the sound, praying that someone would come. Hands still covering his eyes, one desperately trying to staunch the wound, he fell back into the darkness he had once welcomed

Krad inhaled deeply. Exhaled. Inhaled. Exhaled. Daisuke gave him a look, the one that preceded a smart remark. "Is your half-werewolf coming out now, Krad?" He inquired the blond blandly. The other shot him a look, daring him to complete the joke. The redhead didn't; his partner seemed to be in an unstable mood tonight and there was no telling what he might do.

"There's blood," Krad commented. "Strong blood."

"It always is," the other countered. He fingered his pendant worriedly, wondering if Dark was all right. The little doll hadn't done anything to him yet, but one never knew. Krad stiffened, a nimbus flashing into existence around him, tendrils of red light reaching outwards like so many fine threads.

The blond swore softly. "It's _Dark's _blood." They didn't need to speak; in a flash of light, they were in Dark's house. They charged through the corridors, crashing through the door to see the entire room spattered in blood and glass. Daisuke thanked the heavens that he was wearing durable shoes as he crunched through the mess and crouched down next to the fallen journalist. A pile of white dust lay on the floor next to him, glittering in the moonlight. At first, Daisuke thought it was just crushed glass, but upon closer inspection he saw sparks of magick flitting their way through the particles. He placed his palm over the dust and flicked, the substance immediately flying into a magically-conjured vial. He handed the tiny glass object to Krad, who smiled wryly. "CSI: Guardians," he whispered. Daisuke was grateful for the attempted joke, no matter how bad it might have been.

"He's a mess," he told Krad. "Even if I heal him, he'll still need to be under supervision for three weeks at least."

The other shrugged carelessly. "Let him die then. It's not like he was helping us much to begin with."

"Huh, a 180? Krad, you traitor." Daisuke swallowed hard, knowing that what his friend said was probably the most practical solution to their little problem. A painful one, but quick and practical nonetheless.

"You finished gabbing down there, or you want to join him?" The harpy asked sardonically. The two Guardians stared at each other, Krad wanting to get rid of the purple-haired man and Daisuke torn between pragmatism and wanting to save someone. Minutes passed until the harpy decided her two cents was worth the humans' time. "Clock's ticking," she informed them. "Twenty seconds, or the stud here comes with me." Daisuke choked back a nervous giggle. _Stud? _

"Krad?"

"Ten seconds."

Daisuke looked pleadingly at his partner. For this decision, they needed complete unity, or else the harpy would win and take Dark away for good. The blond stared stubbornly at the blood-stained wooden door, refusing to move. Finally, Daisuke smacked him and the blond threw his hands up.

"Five—"

"He's coming with us, crone." The harpy scowled.

"Actually, I was just toying with you. His time's up." She nodded to Dark. "Doll got him, sold him up the river three days ago." She held up a scrap of wrinkled, greasy paper with Dark's name written in clear, red letters. "Shame, really. He had a nice, long life ahead of him if the thing hadn't chosen him first."

Daisuke didn't bother replying; he whipped out a katana and pointed it straight at the creature. "And I care because…?"

The harpy smiled nastily. "Because you're going to have to be my playmate otherwise." Her breath reeked of rotting meat, but the redhead was far past caring about such mundane things.

"Listen," he snapped. "We're keeping this guy, so that he can live out the nice long life you said he had a shot at. So why don't you just leave?" Krad was silent throughout this exchange, but his partner knew that the blond was just waiting to see which side would win. He was a pain in that way.

"Hey, harpy," Daisuke blinked at Krad's nonchalant tone. The creature blinked and swiveled to look at him.

"Yah?"

"I'll play you. For this guy." Krad took a small box out of his pocket and Daisuke rolled his eyes in exasperation. It was the little trick box, the one which could only be opened by sliding the little concealed panels in the right order.

"I hardly think this is the time to play," he mildly commented. The harpy, however, obviously thought differently, her watery eyes fixed on the cuboid.

"Twenty seconds to open?" Krad asked. "I'll give you thirty, seeing as you have wings and no hands." The harpy screeched.

"I'll take your twenty, and win," she told the other. "Nice try." The blond merely shrugged, tossed the box over, and pressed a few buttons on his watch.

"Ready?" The harpy cackled, box in her claws, the beak that had suddenly grown out of her face poised. Daisuke winced.

"Go!"

In thirteen seconds, the lid fell to the floor. Krad's jaw dropped. Daisuke shut his eyes in dismay. The birdlike creature waddled over to Dark's barely breathing body, latching onto his arm and dragging him through the glass. Suddenly, the markings on the box began to glow white, so brightly that the two Guardians had to cover their eyes. For a moment Daisuke thought he could hear the harpy shrieking, but he chalked that down to her burning eyes. Suddenly, there was a click and the room became dark once more. Daisuke turned around to see Krad pick the box up, his golden eyes sharper than ever. His lips curved up into a cruel smile before he turned back to Daisuke. "Harpy in a box," he remarked. Daisuke shivered at the ice in the other's eyes.

"Let's get him to the hospital," he shortly said. A whirlwind engulfed them all and they were soon just outside the local hospital.

Krad shot him a wry look as they walked in through the automatic sliding doors. "You're so lucky I found that blind spot," he remarked before taking Dark from the redhead's arms and practically shoving the unconscious journalist at the receptionist. As though on cue, six or seven nurses rushed out and Dark was soon on a white stretcher. Daisuke swallowed hard at the sight of his mutilated face and even the nurses looked a little green. The only one unaffected by the gory sight was Krad.

**Five hours later:**

"He's stable."

Neither Guardian said a word, silently looking at the doctor. The man was clearly exhausted, but right now Daisuke could not find it in his heart to empathise with the other. "Fine."

"He'll have to be kept here for three weeks though."

The redhead swallowed hard, knowing the answer to his question already but wanting to ask, hoping against the circumstances. "Is…is there anything we can do about the eye?" The doctor shook his head. Daisuke swallowed hard.

"Okay, fine." Krad snapped from the bench. "Can it, Niwa. The guy already feels like sh--; can't you give him a break? He just spent his night patching your love interest up! Make him feel worse, why don't you?" The redhead stared in surprise; normally he'd be the one trying to calm Krad down, but this time it seemed as though their roles were reversed. "You know what? You can take your advice about calming down, and shove it up your—"

"Boys!" The doctor seemed to have recovered somewhat and he looked disapprovingly at the quarrelling pair. "I suggest you both go home and get some sleep. This man is stable, and he'll live through the night. You can come back tomorrow."

"We're staying right here!" Daisuke shot back. Krad sighed and stood up. Walking over to Daisuke, he did something that he'd only ever done to his younger brothers back home-he boxed his ears. Soundly. The redhead made an indignant, spluttering noise whilst the doctor looked ready to rush forward and stop the 'child abuse' immediately.

"Sorry for taking up your time," Krad said cordially to the shocked man. "Thank you very much for helping our friend. Good night." With those words, he left the hospital, dragging a sulky redhead behind him.

In their shared apartment, Krad dumped Daisuke down on the bed and walked out without saying a word. The redhead sighed and shut his eyes, knowing that the next morning they would have to track the sender of the doll down and analyse the ceramic dust. _What a mess…_

**Friday afternoon, 16:23:**

"A watched kettle never boils," Krad casually remarked. Daisuke ignored him, staring intently at Dark's bandage-wrapped face as though watching for some sign of life from the other.

"Shut up," he flatly said.

"It's true."

A green light started to glow around Daisuke and Dark and the blond senior's eyes narrowed. He made a cutting gesture with his hand and the light disappeared. A flick of the wrist and Daisuke made a gurgling noise before turning around to pin Krad with fiery crimson gaze. "_Damn _you," he hissed venomously. "What'd you do that for?"

"Don't drain yourself," the blond warned him sternly. "We have to go out tonight. And, if I remember correctly, you have Chemistry homework that will undoubtedly take three to four hours to finish."

Daisuke ended up working at one of desk in the room, turning around every fifteen minutes to look at Dark hopefully. Krad sighed in irritation and growled, "Look, if you need help, ask. Don't stare at Dark all the time like that." Then the door swung open and Satoshi stepped in.

His cool blue eyes swept over the room once, one eyebrow raised. "My, my," he commented to the still-unconscious journalist. "You've gathered quite a fan club here." He looked at Krad and Daisuke. "Please don't tell me you got him embroiled in your mess again."

Krad scowled. "It was all a little porcelain doll's fault," he bluntly replied. Satoshi stared at him.

"What?"

"A talisman," the blond wearily repeated. "Mr. Journalist here," he pointed with his chin at Dark, "went and got himself a free one-way ticket to Hell. The doctor says he was lucky the sharp thing didn't poke his brain to bits as well." The blue-haired man said nothing, silently listening.

"So anyway, his face is probably going to resemble the Phantom of the Opera's sans left eye when the bandages come off, and it won't be surprising if he's traumatized to boot." Satoshi slowly nodded.

"I see." Krad rolled his eyes.

"You'd better."

Satoshi looked over to Daisuke, smiling his half-smile. "What's that?" He walked over to the source of the redhead's dismay. "Oh, Chemistry?" He raised an eyebrow at the whimper from the other boy. "That's pretty easy." A growl. Satoshi looked down at the mop of red on the desk. "Do you want some help?"

"Don't bother," Krad called. "He's so bad at Chemistry, it'll be a miracle if he even understands what a mole is."

"That's 6.23 x 10 to the power of 23, right?"

"Give the man a hand," Krad sarcastically said. "You can read!" Daisuke flushed and Satoshi sighed.

"Look," he said mildly. "Which bits do you find the hardest?" Krad cackled from his corner of room, continuing to do so even when faced with glares from both Satoshi and Daisuke.

An hour later, and Daisuke was 'set to go', according to the blue-haired man. Krad could not believe his eyes. Daisuke Niwa, the only person in the entire Star Temple unable to say which elements became anions and which became cations, was solving chemical equations like a seasoned…well, chemist. Struggling to keep his jaw from hitting the floor, Krad managed to ask, "How did you do that?"

The blue-haired man looked over and smirked. "Do you really want to know?"

Krad smirked. "Oh, yes." He drew the last word out deliberately, his voice becoming little more than a husky whisper. Satoshi merely smiled back, eyes hidden by the glare of his glasses from the hospital lights. Crossing the room in what seemed like a few swift strides, he managed to loom over Krad even though the other was clearly taller, even sitting down. Bending down, he whispered a few words into the other's ear and Daisuke felt himself blushing. Scolding himself for even entertaining the notion of a relationship growing between the pair, he hastily turned back to his Chemistry, only to whip back around when Krad let out an unearthly screech.

"Him?!" The normally cool blond squalled, pointing at the comatose Dark. "That…that arrogant, cocky moron?!" Satoshi smirked as Krad gawked at the purple-haired man. "_He _taught you that stuff?" The blue-haired man shrugged. "No, wait," the blond continued. "_You _needed help in school?" Satoshi shrugged once more.

"It was more like…a study group," he finally said. "During our years of high school, some of our classmates formed a study group. They asked Dark to help them out, because none of them were particularly strong in that field, and he obliged. I just watched, and picked up some of his techniques."

"Eh?"

The blue-haired man shot a look at his slumbering colleague. "He's a good teacher, believe it or not," he said flatly. "He'll always try to make the lesson interesting."

Krad couldn't help it. "So what'd you do, teach Daisuke with some special method invented by the genius here?"

"Simple. I gave him a few formulae and explained them all in layman's terms. And drew them out for him with…amusing pictures." Krad sighed.

"He's that far beyond hope, huh?"

Satoshi raised an eyebrow whilst Daisuke pouted. Suddenly the prone figure in the bed shifted a little, causing all three to rush over and peer anxiously into his face. Krad could hear Satoshi mumbling to himself about the idiocy of their boss, finding the low sound rather pleasant despite the not-so-pleasant vocabulary. Uncaring of whether the doctors would care, the trio immediately began to try to communicate with Dark, each in his own way.

Krad swore, Daisuke hastily tried to calm Dark down even though it was clear he was probably still unable to reply to the insults and Satoshi merely said, "You're fired."

To their surprise, Dark chose to answer Satoshi. His voice was somewhat choked and much weaker than usual, but all the same it was a start. "Bastard." He coughed again. "Why couldn't he let me take a nice, long sleep?"

The nurse was incredibly displeased when she saw the three crowded around Dark's bed, obviously straining him, and promptly kicked them out on the grounds of, 'Patients need rest. Not noisy people." Daisuke sighed and looked up bemusedly at the sky. Krad was already following Satoshi to his car, despite the fact that he and his partner had come by motorcycle.

"What about the motorbike?" Daisuke asked. Krad turned back and waved cheerily. "You can drive it home," he shouted back.

**Three hours later:**

Takeshi hastily maneuvered Sally in between two SUVs, wincing as he heard the all too familiar sound of metal hitting metal. Praying that he had not damaged what looked to be a very expensive car, he stepped out and examined the damage. Sally had lost a good chunk of her sleek black finish, whilst the other car now had a new black streak reaching from the back door to the trunk. _That's going to be hell to pay for,_ Takeshi thought. He only hoped that the owner did not come out soon.

"Hey Dark," he said as soon as he'd seated himself and found a place to put the bouquet of 'Get Well Soon' flowers which the whole office had chipped in for. "Get better soon, okay? I know the big guy fired you when you weren't even around, and that sucks, but I know you'll do okay. Seriously. Don't beat yourself up over it. And…and I hope you can still drive okay." The large bandage over the other's eye had told Takeshi everything he needed to know. "Sally misses you. She hasn't cruised smoothly since you left and all. And…and I hope you can tell me why you keep disappearing now." With those words said, he left. What he didn't notice were the tiny sparks dancing around the tips of Dark's fingers.

**Daisuke, Krad and Satoshi:**

They'd decided to bring Satoshi home with them. After all, the blue-haired man looked as though he needed some company (according to Krad) and they could perhaps get some more information about Dark out of him (again, according to Krad). Daisuke had been ambivalent towards the whole situation anyway, so he hadn't minded having the artist along for dinner. Besides, Krad needed some company, and he seemed to have his sights set on an older man this time. Daisuke only hoped that the pair wouldn't keep everyone else up for the night if Satoshi did indeed choose to stay over.

Krad smiled sweetly at Satoshi over the table, his leg coming up to rest on the other's lap. It was a small table, anyway. Daisuke growled something under his breath and the leg shifted away, but Krad continued to follow it. Satoshi's face showed absolutely no expression out of the ordinary; he continued to eat calmly, hands not even shaking. The blond Guardian smirked and murmured teasingly, "Oh, Sato, isn't it just a little (nudge) hot (nudge) in here?" The blue-haired man stared at him uncomprehendingly. Then Daisuke's head jerked up.

"Krad," he tartly said, "Stop trying to play footsie with me. Quite frankly, it's frightening." Needless to say, nothing more happened.

Satoshi smiled politely at Risa, gritting his teeth and the squeals of delight that emitted from the girl. _Who would have thought someone so petite could make so much noise? _"It's so pretty!" She cooed happily. "Thank you so much, Sato-chan!" The artist could feel Krad wince, but chose to say nothing. After all, there was no point pushing something when the other clearly had other matters to deal with.

Krad glared jealously at Risa's back, wondering whether he could perhaps use lightning to give her the great-grandmother of all bad hair days. Golden eyes narrowed as he contemplated the idea of Risa with an Afro for the next six months, or even better, bald. Daisuke's hand clenched firmly around his shoulder, but the blond was not deterred. He'd taken on worse people before, and he had to keep Satoshi interested in him. Whatever the Hikari wanted, they got. Immediately.

Daisuke sighed. _Krad, _he thought mockingly, _I know you love your ego very much, and I admire your efforts to keep it happy, but can you _please _just let Satoshi go? You two can do the horizontal hokey-pokey _after _we find out what's been going around town. _

"So why isn't Dark here?" Risa finally asked. "I thought you'd be with him, seeing as Satoshi works with him and you two seem to like him." There was an awkward silence as all three looked around the table, trying to think of a plausible explanation for Dark's hospitalization.

"He's sleeping," Satoshi said flatly.

"Eh? So early?" Risa pouted.

"Yeah." The blue-haired man resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

Daisuke sighed and focused on his food, wondering about the results that the ceramic dust would reveal. He and Krad had sent the little vial off on the way home, huddled in an alleyway so that no one would see. He smiled a little, remembering the look on the blonde's face when he'd stepped on a pile of day-old food. _It's probably going to be the usual mix, _he thought miserably. _Maybe mixed in with a little harpy essence. _

Krad draped a casual arm over Satoshi's shoulders, looking at the man in shock when he felt just how thin the other was. "What have you been doing to yourself, man?" He asked. "Not even Risa's that thin!" Riku scowled, Risa blushed and swatted at him ineffectually and Daisuke sighed once more.

The artist gave the younger man a withering look, which the blonde ignored. Upon seeing the look of annoyance on the other's face, he offered an explanation. "After seeing Daisuke's glare, you develop immunity to anything weaker."

Daisuke glanced at the clock once more, his heart sinking as Krad continued to flirt with the newspaper artist. They were supposed to go out scouting tonight, but it didn't seem as though they were going to get anything done. The redhead decided to go out on his own; after all, it wasn't as though he was going to be holding a commune with some dangerous spirit or another, so he supposed that Krad wouldn't object to this solo outing. Standing up, he politely made his excuses feeling very much like an insecure houseguest and left the house.

For such a small town, Daisuke decided, it was certainly difficult to find a remotely quiet area where he could perform minor spells without being seen by anyone. Nevertheless, he continued to wander about, searching for a relatively secluded spot.

**Krad: **

Krad threw his head back and laughed freely at one of Satoshi's stories and blithely ignoring the stares from the twins. He wanted to keep the journalist away; it never paid to let too many people in on the secret even if they professed to some other knowledge beforehand; but all the same it was better to err on the side of caution. The reporter had probably already picked up on his game, but it took two to play properly. He felt a flash of irritation from his younger partner, but ignored it. So what if they were supposed to go scouting tonight? It wasn't as though they'd be up for promotion any time son even they worked themselves silly, so why bother?

Riku and Risa eventually left for the comfort of their room, one to finish her homework and the other to sleep. The blond turned to Satoshi and smiled, golden eyes slowly darkening to the colour of honey. "So are you going to go too? Because you're welcome to stay over if you like." The blue-haired artist looked him over and raised an eyebrow, coolly condescending.

"Maybe."

Krad leaned forward teasingly, giving the other one last chance to back out. Satoshi looked him over once more and the blond couldn't help but notice that the other's eyebrow rose up even higher as he turned his head away and stood up. The blond scowled.

The blue-haired journalist looked down at Krad, a disdainful look painting his fine features. "Sorry," he dryly said. "I don't _do _couches." With that parting shot, he left the apartment, the click echoing through the room. The Guardian stared in shock for a moment before his lips twisted upwards in a wry smile. Engrossed in his own thoughts about Satoshi and the mess that had thrown them next to each other, he remained on the couch until Daisuke returned home, irritated at not being able to find an isolated spot.

**Dark:**

He tried to blink, but found that the covering around his left eye was so tight that he couldn't even move the eyelid. His skin felt taut and hot on his face, and it seemed to be a lot darker than he remembered. At first he thought it was just one of the nightmares he'd been starting to have recently, but with a startling, cold clarity, he realized that he'd never be able to use his left eye ever again. The darkness was all around him and with nothing, no one to keep him company, Dark felt the old fear creeping in. The one that had settled into his soul after the night his mother had left and never returned.

* * *

No, I haven't died. I've just run into a really bad case of writer's block, so I hope this chapter's okay. Thanks for reading! 


	10. Chapter 10

**Journalist 10:**

Disclaimer: DN Angel. Not mine. Comprende?

Warnings: Nothing that hasn't already been said.

A/N: Uni apps and end-of-year exams are catching up fast, so updates will probably be sporadic, to say the least. I'll try to keep the quality though. Plus, this is a Halloween chapter, so there's your treat!

* * *

Dark lay still, afraid to move or even breathe. The beeping of the monitor sounded unnaturally loud, the rustling of the curtains hinting at some unknown presence in the room with him. Fear washed over him in waves, his heart pumping faster and faster as it sped up with the rush of adrenaline now flooding the journalist's system. His eye throbbed fiercely and he squirmed at the suddenly too-hot room, finally rolling over onto his left side slowly. Some of his fear evaporated as the movement broke his fear, and he soon fell asleep. What he didn't realize was that he was glowing with white light, tinged with a hint of red.

**Daisuke:**

The alarm clock shrilled into the silence of the dark bedroom, the red numbers glowing brightly in the darkness. Daisuke groaned and slammed a hand on the source of the offensive noise, bleary-eyed and barely thinking. As soon as the clock stopped, he rolled over and went straight back to sleep, not realizing that he would sleep half the day away as a result of his night's activities.

**Krad:**

"Don't you have class today?" Risa asked Krad. The blond thought for a moment and then shook his head.

"No."

"But I thought you had—"

"I don't. The teacher's off, so we're just going to have a free period anyway. Why bother going so early?" The brunette frowned, clearly about to say something, but then sighed and turned around.

"You two are so lazy!" She pouted before flouncing out the door. Krad merely sighed and leaned back in the chair, absently wondering about how to best release the harpy he'd trapped last night. _Maybe I should peddle it off to some human as a genie in a box, _he thought wryly. He silently cursed the idiot journalist for coddling the doll and wondered when the dust analysis would come back. After all, the Star Temple was notorious for its inability to analyse the many samples sent back by various Guardians efficiently, and results were known to sometimes arrive long after the case had been filed away.

**Satoshi:**

Satoshi sighed and poked at the hapless sheet of paper with his black pen, wondering about his friend. As annoying as Dark could get, he had been the only one with whom the blue-haired artist had felt comfortable with. Moreover, Takeshi had been moping around the office lately, silence replacing the horrifyingly off-colour jokes and raucous laughter. He wondered whether Dark would return to work, or whether he would quietly leave. The blue-haired boy shuddered at the mere memory of the wounds that his friend had apparently sustained.

**Three hours later: **

"I'm late!" Krad looked up to see a very ruffled Daisuke tear into the living room, shirt askew and hair tousled.

"That's generally what happens when you oversleep," he wryly commented.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" The redhead demanded.

"Because I didn't think that you'd be so hot to trot after yesterday," Krad answered truthfully. As Daisuke lectured him on the importance of blending in with their surroundings and going to school like good, responsible young people, the blond gritted his teeth. _Kosuke had better be grateful that I haven't killed his son yet! _"Well, guess we'd better get some work done, huh sunshine?" He finally asked after the speech had ended.

Red eyes glared. "How could you? We have to go see if Dark's all right first!" Daisuke snapped.

Krad rolled his eyes. "He's stable. Isn't that enough for you?"

"What if he died in the night?"

"Then Satoshi would have been here ringing the doorbell three hours ago."

"What if the hospital didn't know who to contact?"

"Why do you care so much?" Krad couldn't help but ask. Guardians rarely developed attachments because of their long life span and their transient lifestyles. Humans were not allowed to enter any of the temples, another reason as to why Guardians rarely bothered to seek out company amongst them.

Daisuke scowled fiercely, a ting of red dotting his face. The blond Guardian merely sat still, golden eyes unblinking, waiting for an appropriate answer. "I need him to teach Chemistry," was the lame answer. Krad resisted the urge to cackle.

Daisuke could have impaled himself on his own katana. _I did not just say that, _he tried to convince himself, but reality was harsh. He decided to act with dignity and turned on his heel sharply, intending to walk out of the door. Alas, his coat caught onto the hooked door handle, and Daisuke was jerked back into the house with Krad giggling like a five year old behind him.

**Dark:**

"Let's see how you're doing then," the doctor said as he carefully removed the large bandages swathing Dark's face, making sure to avoid touching the one over the journalist's eye. "Hmm, not…oh, my."

Dark tried to ask something, but a garbled croak came out instead of a coherent word. The doctor immediately sensed that his patient was trying to say something, and within moments a glass of water was pushed between his lips. He drank greedily, trying not to spill anything. "My goodness…" the doctor was still saying, clearly unable to believe his eyes.

"What?" Dark demanded, now able to speak properly and feeling much better than he had the day before.

"At the rate you're going…" the doctor said slowly, "by tomorrow, you'll be…"

"What?" Dark asked irascibly. "Dead?"

"As good as new," the doctor corrected. The journalist gritted his teeth.

"What are you babbling about?" He asked. "I just had my face torn off, my left eye gouged out and you're telling me I'll be as good as new _tomorrow_?"

"Believe me," the doctor said a little huffily, "If I knew what was causing this, I'd recommend your treatment for all the patients."

"You mean you don't know what's causing this?"

"No. But if it makes you feel any better," the doctor snapped, "you'll never be able to use your left eye again!"

Dark took a few deep breaths, reminding himself that had it not been for this doctor, he would have probably been left with a ruined face. "So…do I have any scars?"

"No." Still irritated, the doctor had cut down on the length of his replies.

"I'm sorry, okay? It's just…it's just that it's been a little stressful over on this side." Dark tried for a smile, but found that his muscles were just a little stiffer than he remembered.

"You shouldn't move." That was the doctor again. "We'll keep you here overnight just for observation, and if you're fine tomorrow then you can go home."

Dark swallowed hard. "Yes. That would be fine. Thank you very much."

"You're welcome."

**Daisuke and Krad:**

"I hope Dark's doing all right," Daisuke worried. "I had to heal him last time, and I didn't have time to do anything last night. I should have healed him."

"I'm pretty sure healing doesn't extend to missing body bits," Krad pointed out. "I see no reason for you to guilt-trip yourself over something so trivial. Besides, he's not going to die. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say he was a pretty darn good fighter at some point of his life. Remember that little trick cupboard?" The redhead frowned lightly. Smiling, Krad continued to cajole his friend. "Come on, I'm sure we have something to tell him that'll be worth his little secret. Just what kind of journalist knows how to fight properly, anyway?"

They passed the doctor on their way in. "Good morning…" Daisuke squinted at the name-tag on the white lab coat. "Watanabe-sensei." The doctor nodded in reply.

"Are you Dark's doctor?" Krad cut in. The man nodded once more. _What is this guy-a mute? _The blond thought.

"Is he all right?"

Dr. Watanabe nodded again. "Yes," he finally said. "He's recovering much more quickly than usual. In fact, we've actually removed the facial bandages, although we can't take the one over his eye off until we find a suitable eye patch. He won't be seeing through his left eye anymore, but apart from that there should be no other grave consequences." He smiled slightly.

"Thank you!" Daisuke hastily told the doctor before dashing in. Krad followed at a more sedate pace, smiling and nodding to Watanabe.

The first thing Dark was aware of was the sound of footsteps, and then a weight rammed into his midriff. "Are you all right?" It was Daisuke.

"Looks like it." Dark managed to smile slightly, but his blood ran cold as soon as Daisuke asked the million-dollar question.

"How do you know how to fight like that?"

**Satoshi:**

"I'm telling you, there is no way you're going to be able to get away with that," Satoshi told the intern. The son of a prominent businessman within Azumano, his daddy had pulled a few strings to get his son a job working part time at the newspaper office, namely, in the cartoons section.

"You never said that," the boy protested stubbornly. "You just said, 'Polish it up a bit'."

The artist sighed. Luckily for him, one of the other artists leaned over and told the obnoxious brat, "When Hiwatari says 'Polish it up', he means, 'That's terrible.'" The intern flushed a dark shade of red and hastily retreated to his desk. Satoshi rubbed his temples, wincing at the beginnings of a gorgeous headache.

**Takeshi:**

"Saehara!"

Takeshi Saehara leapt out of his seat, scrabbling through the papers in his desk, looking for the notes on the article he was supposed to be working on. Normally the boss didn't bellow from his office unless Dark was concerned, but Saehara had a feeling that his friendship with the somewhat unorthodox journalist would soon put him under fire, especially now that said journalist was hospitalized.

"Come in, come in," a voice called out from behind the door. Saehara winced, muttered a quick prayer and opened the solid walnut wood door.

"You know, Takeshi," Takegawa said coolly once the other had closed the door behind him, "I've been reviewing all your reports and articles lately, and I feel that your performance merits a…reward, of sorts. You've been one of the few writers to come in regularly, and the quality of your work has been of a consistently high quality." Takeshi blinked, but did not dare say anything. Takegawa continued serenely. "So, I have decided to give you a raise. A very substantial raise, I may add." He looked at Saehara expectantly, waiting for the journalist to fall in gratitude.

"Thank you, sir," Saehara said sincerely. Part of him wanted to know why he was being promoted so suddenly, but he pushed the voice away. _Never look a gift horse too closely in the mouth, _he told himself, hiding a wry smile. For a journalist, he was surprisingly cautious.

If the editor was disappointed, he didn't show it. "As a…little celebration…how about we celebrate together?" Takeshi nearly dropped his notes.

"I'm sorry, sir?"

"We'll go out for a drink tonight," Takegawa said smoothly. "I'll see you in the lobby at, say, 7:30 tonight?" The other could only nod, still stunned at the sudden act of generosity and the sudden change in relationship.

**Satoshi:**

It was lunch break. Thankful for an excuse to get away from the intern, whose idiocy was starting to grate on his nerves, he jumped into the car and drove to the hospital.

He was somewhat surprised to find that Dark, Krad and Daisuke were locked in an intense discussion, the journalist showing no outward signs of weariness or trauma. The only sign that he had been involved in a rather nasty accident was the new eye patch over his left eye. Nevertheless, he had known Dark to look totally sober for the entire evening no matter how many drinks he downed, only to suddenly pass out in the bar stool. He cleared his throat.

The occupants of the room looked up, faces serious. Krad looked at Dark silently before the purple-haired journalist nodded. "He knows everything," was all the other would say.

Golden eyes fixed on Satoshi's ice blue ones with a frightening intensity. "Am I correct I in saying that you know everything about Dark before he was transferred to Azumano?" The artist nodded, eyes hardening. If Daisuke and Krad were trying to dig up the past without Dark's consent, he would fight to keep it secret.

"You _knew _he was a hired –!"

Satoshi slapped a hand over the blond's mouth. "Quiet!" He hissed. "You want to advertise his past all over the hospital?" He snatched his hand away just in time to avoid a nasty bite from the Guardian. "God," he mumbled to himself. "You're so immature."

"I can be…mature…" Krad smirked. Daisuke sighed.

"All right, all right, back to the matter at hand, children." He calmly patted the blond's back, only to be met by a mischievous glance.

"But there's a bed there, where I'm _sure _I can prove my…maturity."

Satoshi gritted his teeth. "Okay, so why are you so interested in Dark's past?" He pointedly ignored Krad's previous remark.

"We needed to know how and where he learned to fight," Daisuke explained. "If someone's sending Dolls after him, either he committed an abominable crime, or else he's caught someone's eye and they really, really want him dead."

Satoshi slowly nodded. "Well," he said wryly, "That's the price you pay for being what he _was_." He emphasized the past tense. Daisuke nodded.

"We're hoping that whatever's going after Dark is what we're looking for," he continued. "That's why we've been digging around."

Krad shrugged carelessly. "Plus, he said he wanted to come with us on this whole thing, so now he's paying the price. Although," he smiled coldly, "he's certainly sustained more injuries than most Fledglings do in their first year." At Satoshi's puzzled look, he elaborated further. "Fledglings are what we call new Temple initiates." Satoshi nodded, unsure of whether he liked this new side of Krad.

**Takeshi:**

He arrived at the hospital with fifteen minutes to spare. Swearing vigorously, he parked the black car between a large blue minivan and a surprisingly fat Bug before squeezing out and heading into the building.

He arrived right outside the room, but didn't go in upon hearing voices. He recognized one of them as Satoshi's, but he didn't know who the other two were. It seemed that they were talking about something important. True to his nature, Saehara stayed outside the room, straining to hear anything important. He didn't have to wait long. His dark eyes widened and he felt a wave of horror wash over him as Satoshi briefly summarized the other journalist's life. _Dark was an assassin? _He thought. _He _killed _people for a living? My best friend is the same as one of the people who killed my father? _Dizzy with confusion and horror, he staggered away from the room, thoughts crashing and whirling in his head.

**Dark:**

He didn't feel like talking today. His eye, although healing, still throbbed and he felt hot, as though the cuts were still fresh on his face. He leaned back into the pillows, drifting in and out of consciousness as waves of sleepiness washed over him. He didn't notice the strange looks both Guardians gave him as he fell asleep once more.

Satoshi looked down at his colleague. With a quick glance at his watch, he noted that his hour was almost up and unless he wanted to face an increasingly tetchy editor-in-chief, he had better get going. "Well, it's time for me to go back," he announced as he stood up. "And Dark looks like he's fast asleep, so I guess we're not going to get anything else done after this." He nodded at the two Guardians as he left. "Don't say anything," he warned them before leaving. Krad and Daisuke swapped looks before standing up and leaving Dark to his dreams.

_-Dream Sequence-_

_Blood soaked the ground around his feet, screams echoing in his ears as flames roared up, consuming the entire village. He felt rage well up deep within him as he lifted a mighty broadsword aloft, brandishing it with barely any effort. Looking up towards the lightning-laced heavens, he roared in triumph even as he brought the weapon down to hack into the prone body in front of him once more. _

"_What have you done, my son?" The voice was filled with despair even as its owner staggered towards him, hands outstretched in a plea. "What have you done?" _

_His sword bit deeply into the figure's neck before he even had time to register the swing, the head lolling limply to one side as muscle and bone were severed. He looked down at the face, agony and pain etched into its aged features. In spite of the wrinkles, he recognized it. It was his mother. _

_-End Sequence-_

"I didn't kill her!"

"Sir, please calm down!" The agitated nurse tried to calm the thrashing journalist, frightened that he would rip out a needle and start bleeding. "Please, sir!"

"I'm telling you, I didn't kill her!" Dark seized the nurse by the front of her uniform. "You believe me, don't you?"

Upon seeing that there was no way to calm the panicking man, she yelled, "I need tranqs here for patient #456, room 257!" Within moments, they'd jabbed a needle into Dark's right arm and he was soon quiet again.

**Daisuke and Krad:**

They'd decided to go to the mall for a while. Unfortunately, it seemed that there was a household appliance convention, and the entire place was swarming with housewives comparing prices. The pair had immediately decided to leave before they went deaf and headed for a less well known shopping centre. They'd then proceeded to burn three hours watching Die Hard 4.0 for the third time, walking out with their minds fuzzy and blank from the copious number of explosions. "That's the great thing about magic," Krad commented as soon as the ringing in his ears stopped. "It looks much more colourful when you're having a battle."

Daisuke didn't bother replying. "I think I need to go visit the Temple Library," he finally said. Krad stared.

"What?"

"I want to see if there are any particular legends associated with Azumano," he said. "There must be something worth looking for here if there are monsters prowling around and Dolls are arriving."

"Why don't you just go ask Lavi or Bookman?" Krad pointed out. "The Exorcists are much more in tune with the human realm, unlike us Guardians."

"Because they're a little…_busy _right now," Daisuke dryly replied. "You _have _heard that the Earl's starting in on their Generals now, haven't you?"

"Point taken." Krad shrugged. "So why do you think Dark's such a big target?"

"We'd be going home if I knew," Daisuke snapped. He was tired of Krad's questions, irked by the brain-numbing feeling that Bruce Willis films always left him with and worried about Dark.

"Oh, someone's tetchy today," the blond remarked caustically. "Look, getting grouchy isn't going to help the issue. We may as well just give ourselves a rest, wait until Dark's fully functional instead of falling asleep every twenty minutes and then we can work things out with him. I'm sure he wouldn't want to miss something this crucial. Sound good?"

"Yeah, but then I'd have to worry about Chem homework," the younger Guardian morosely replied.

"It's okay," Krad cheerily said. "We can call Satoshi over. Besides, I'd really like to move in on him, if you know what I mean." He smirked and the redhead rolled his eyes.

"Fine. But not whilst he's teaching me." They both laughed a little and headed for the bus stop, resolving not to mention the case until Dark had fully recovered.

**Takeshi:**

He stared blankly at the harsh light of the computer screen, eyes glazed over.

_-Flashback-_

"_Here we are, live at the museum where the priceless painting, 'Tears of Light' will be held for the next twelve weeks! It is said that the late Yumi Aragawa, upon discovering that she had only months to live, put the remainder of her energy into this work, giving it the aura and unique glow that makes it one of the most highly valued works in the art world." _

_Takeshi watched the television with wide eyes, the toy in his hand forgotten. He stared in awe at the important looking grown-ups walking out, his father standing behind them. "There's Dada!" He squealed happily, pointing at the screen. His mother quickly shushed him and put him on her lap, where he squirmed uncomfortably. Nevertheless, he stared at the television, enraptured._

_Suddenly the entire scene was pitched into darkness. First there were only dull murmurs of surprise, and then the screams began. _

_His father died of wounds in the hospital three days later. Although no one could precisely say what the attacker and thief had looked like, they said that he had proudly announced himself as a member of the Four Points before disappearing with the painting, leaving a trail of chaos and five dead men behind. _

Eyes cold, he stood up and picked up his jacket, walking out into the lobby to wait for his boss. He sighed and tried to clear the thoughts out of his head, wondering just how he should treat Dark. It was so difficult not to think about his best friend as being the same as the man who'd cost him his father, but it was the truth. He looked up in surprise, seeing Editor-in-Chief Takegawa standing in front of him, eyes smiling. "Let's go, Takeshi."

**Dark:**

As a journalist, Dark definitely could not say that he was completely without curiosity. In fact, he had often been called incorrigible a number of times, stemming from his habit of asking (often unwanted) questions at the worst possible moments. He had always listened to the girls gossiping at school, interested in knowing anything and everything about his classmates. Nevertheless, he felt awfully incurious about his newfound powers.

He looked down at his hand and flexed his fingers, watching the tiny sparks of white and red light dance in the air for a moment before vanishing once more. He frowned and this time the orbs of light remained longer, quivering in mid-air. He let his mind wander and fixed on the memory of him and Takeshi, riding in Sally with an injured dog in the backseat. His friend had kept the dog, but often Dark wished that he had. It was lonely coming back to the flat with nothing to look forward to except his movie collection. He grinned ruefully, remembering the argument he'd had with his friend about what to call the animal. Then he heard a bark.

A large dog stood at the foot of the bed, tail thumping furiously against the floor as it barked happily. It could have been the twin of Takeshi's except for one detail: it _glowed_. Dark gaped for a few moments before reaching out a hand to touch the animal. It walked over and sniffed at his hand for a moment before barking once more and immediately jumping up onto the bed with him. However, the journalist was preoccupied with staring at his hands. _I'm sure I didn't want a dog _that _badly, _he thought. Just as suddenly as it had appeared, the animal vanished. _On second thoughts, it was nice, _he hastily thought, causing the dog to reappear once more.

Surprisingly, the nurses made no fuss about the dog, and they certainly didn't seem to notice the red glow that it radiated. They even provided him with makeshift bowls and a leash for the dog, and suggested that perhaps he could walk it after he'd been discharged. Luckily for the journalist, the animal appeared to come house-trained. The doctor came in later to check on him before they turned off the lights for the night, and raised an eyebrow at the dog but said nothing. "How are you feeling, Dark?" He asked mildly.

"Never felt better," the other replied cheerfully. He decided that as cliché as those articles about the healing properties of having a pet were, the stories were indeed true.

"I can imagine," Dr. Watanabe smiled once more. Inwardly, he was surprised that Dark had not reacted negatively to, or even mentioned being tranquilised. The doctor glanced quickly at the monitor beside the bed before nodded and pressing a button, causing the upper half of the bed to rise and turning the piece of furniture into a sort of chair. He placed his stethoscope on Dark's chest. "Breathe in," he ordered. After about a minute, he nodded in satisfaction. "All right, it seems that you're in top shape," he cheerfully commented. "You're more than ready to go home, but we'll keep you overnight for observation, and you can go home tomorrow." Dark sighed in disappointment, but nodded anyway. "Oh, one thing," the doctor mildly said. "Where did that dog come from?" Dark froze.

**Daisuke and Krad:**

"I don't believe I'm doing this," the redhead groaned. "And on a weekday, too!" He sank lower into his barstool, hoping that no one would notice and approach him.

It had been Krad's idea to go out for a while to get their minds off the case, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something crucial was missing from their puzzle. He wanted nothing more than to be back home, working on either his History or Art homework, but the blond had looked so disappointed at the prospect to clubbing by himself that the redhead finally gave in. He was sorely regretting the decision.

"Hey there, cutie!" Daisuke sighed and spun around to find a lanky man looking him up and down. There was a sleazy air about him which the white suit only seem to further enhance, and the Guardian felt like screaming. "You look okay. Can I have your number?" The man slid onto the empty barstool next to the student and leaned close, clearly intending to gauge the other's reaction to his presence.

_No way, not in a million years! _"Uh…" Daisuke frantically searched for the best way to say no without sounding offensive. "I lost my phone," he weakly offered.

"Come on honey, it'll be well worth it." The creep leaned in further. "I'll teach you _everything_." He winked lewdly and the redhead repressed a shudder. "You'll be begging for it before long." That did it.

"Er, well, I've actually got to go…uh…my house is on fire." He smiled weakly before trying to slide off the stool. Unfortunately, the guy was now gripping his arm tightly. _I don't believe this. _"Erm, actually, I've got…uh…herpes! No, wait, it was called something else…uh…syphilis? Ah, I remember, I've got AIDS, AIDS!" He darted off onto the crowded dancefloor, squeezing through the dancers and heading for the exit. _Screw this, I'm going home_. Just then, someone grabbed him. He felt a sharp prick in his arm and soon his vision went black as he sagged limply in the other's arms.

* * *

Okay, so it's a half-hearted sort of cliffhanger. But really, it's not that bad. Happy Halloween, y'alls! 


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

Disclaimer: DN Angel does not belong to me.

Warnings: You still need them?

A/N: I'm sorry for not having updated earlier because of exams and university applications, so please forgive me for that. Thank you for getting up to here and I hope you enjoy this next chapter.

* * *

Dark laughed uneasily, patting the dog and sincerely hoping that it didn't suddenly start glowing or turn into Cujo. "He's a…friend's dog," he finally said. "My friend brought him over because…uh, he's a little eccentric…and, um, he doesn't really listen to the rules." The journalist inwardly cringed; six years of being a 'cloak-and-dagger man' and he still couldn't tell a proper lie at the right time.

"Ah." The doctor raised an eyebrow. "I'm afraid, Mr. Mousy, that dogs and pets are not allowed in the hospital, as there are some patients here who may not welcome the noise or—" The journalist hastily cut him off.

"That's fine, Doctor, I promise he'll be gone as soon as my friend comes back tomorrow."

The man frowned. "You intend to keep the animal in the hospital overnight? I would not recommend that to anyone, Mr. Mousy, especially not if they have suffered extensive injuries." In spite of the doctor's strenuous objections, Dark somehow managed to convince the other to let the dog stay in the room, even going so far as to ask a passing nurse to help him feed and walk the animal in the hospital grounds later. She was more than happy to do so, much to the displeasure of the doctor. "Oh yes, Mr. Mousy," the man said after examining him. "Your eyepatch." He fished around in the pocket of his white coat and produced a small, white scrap of cloth with two elastic bands attached. "You will probably prefer to wear this when in public. Good night, Mr. Mousy." With those frosty words he left, leaving Dark to stare at the eyepatch and wish that he'd never picked up the doll. However, he was not left alone with his thoughts for too long, as the dog suddenly jumped up and ate the piece of cloth in one bite.

**Krad:**

Krad stumbled out of the club, lip-locked with a very feisty brunette and in a pleasant daze. Slamming the other against the wall, he proceeded to happily ravish the man's throat, grinning as the other whined and pressed the blond closer. Caught up in pleasing his prey, he ignored the pulsing pendant at his chest and lost himself in pleasure for the next fifteen minutes. At about two-thirty in the morning, he decided to leave Daisuke to his own devices and return home. The redhead was probably soused enough to do something inappropriate by now, and even if he wasn't, there was surely someone who would catch his eye.

**Satoshi:**

He woke up every morning at three o'clock precisely, his body clock ringing the alarm for a trip to the bathroom. Tonight was no exception, and he staggered groggily towards the bathroom. Only, when he turned on the lights, the bathroom clearly wasn't empty. One brow rose in mild surprise as the familiar figure moved towards him. "I thought you preferred luxury travel? And a _door_?" he asked dryly. The other cocked his head to one side and thought for a moment.

"Well, yes, but I didn't think the guard would let me in wearing this." A wide mouth curled in distaste as the man gestured at his admittedly scanty clothing. "And you know how much I _hate_ being stared at."

"You may as well…come in." Satoshi stepped back and gestured for the other man to walk through the door. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some business to take care of, and we can talk in the morning." The other man snickered and then blinked as the bathroom door swung shut in his face.

"I suppose I'll have to make do with the sofa," the man sighed. "Really, you shouldn't treat your sensei like this!" He called back as he left the room. Catching sight of Satoshi's bed, he thought for a moment before smiling and climbing in. After all, he was sure that his one-time pupil wouldn't mind giving him a proper place to sleep.

Satoshi stared at the extra person in his already small bed and glared. _How come _he _gets the bed?_ He thought irritably before heading to the guest room. Thank goodness he kept the guest bed made, or else it would mean more hassle looking for sheets and spare pillows. Sometimes, it really was best to be prepared, especially when you had an unpredictable master who could (and would) show up at any given time and expect a place to stay. The only thing he dreaded was the soon-to-come talk. He didn't get any more sleep that night, trying to think of the best way to present Dark's case to his sensei.

**Daisuke:**

The first thing he noted when he awoke was the throbbing in his head. _What on earth happened?_ He wondered. He remembered being stuck in that hot, stuffy nightclub with a pervert trying to hit on him. And then…oh. Red eyes narrowed and he slowly shifted his head, looking around and trying to get his bearings. It was small and simply furnished, with a small window on one side of the wall. He blinked at the small night-table on the left of his head, surprised at such a sign of luxury. He shifted a little and was surprised to find that there was nothing tying him to the bed (or anywhere else for that matter), and that he apparently had free run of the room. He cautiously sat up and stared at the closed door of his room, debating on the merits of looking for a way out. Wobbling to his feet, he first carefully headed for the bathroom and splashed some water on his face, shaking his head vigorously to shake the clinging water droplets away.

"You're awake!"

Daisuke whirled around with his hands outstretched, ready to attack. However, he only saw a familiar face. Crimson eyes widened and the man hastily pulled back before he accidentally hurt someone. It had happened before. "Kantarou!"

"Hi!" The young man smiled happily and approached his colleague. "How are you feeling?" He chirped. Daisuke stared.

"Were you the one who…brought me here? Where's Haruka?" It was common knowledge that Kantarou did not work without the black-haired tengu somewhere nearby, but Daisuke could not so much as sense the other's presence.

The white-haired man smiled cheerily, but it seemed a little forced. For Ichinomiya Kantarou's smile to look forced, it meant that something was very wrong indeed. "Mmm…sort of. Not really. But it was all for a good cause!" He hastily added. "And Lord Kosuke's been dying to see you for a while now." Catching the look on Daisuke's face, he quickly mended his previous statement. "Not that way. Come on-I'll take you to see him, okay?"

"Where's Haruka?" Daisuke asked, this time more forcefully than usual. He liked Kantarou well enough, but he hated being kept in the dark, and it didn't seem as though the 'folklorist' was about to let him in on the secret. "Why all the secrecy?" Kantarou shook his head again, but his smile was smaller and his eyes were worried, so worried that for a moment Daisuke thought that there was something dangerous behind him.

He decided to wait out the storm in this room. After all, it wasn't as though he was completely and utterly defenseless; in fact, the glorious headache that should have been making itself known was starting to stir in his temples, and he was sure that anyone who tried to attack him at this time would find themselves in for a very nasty shock. "I'm not coming with you," the redhead stated calmly. Ignoring the shocked look on his friend's face, he continued. "I'm tired, I have a headache, and I want to know what's going on." Kantarou merely sighed and turned around, his priest's outfit swirling around as though it, too, were insulted.

"Fine," the other said. 'Stay here." Daisuke's eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Hey, Kantarou," he casually said. The other man turned around, smile firmly back in place. "For old times' sake-what was the prank you and I pulled on Tezuka-sensei in our first year as Fledglings, and why did we do it?"

Kantarou stared, red eyes troubled. "This-this isn't the time to be discussing pranks," he coolly stated, unlike the cheery writer that Daisuke knew. "We should go now—"

"Hand of Judgement!" Before the other could react, a bolt of light flew through the air and crashed into the exorcist-cum-writer. His form grew brighter and brighter until there was a crash like thunder, and the man disappeared. Daisuke sighed at the oily black smoke that rose in plumes from the ground. _Demon,_ he thought in annoyance. Looking around, he suddenly realized that his surroundings were…shifting. The walls shuddered, but didn't crack. The bed shimmered in and out of existence in its spot by the wall, the well-made night table somehow moved from its place beside the headboard to the foot of the bed. The redhead sighed and sat down, closing his eyes and reaching out for the source of the confusion.

Daisuke sensed a knotty black ball of energy at the centre of the magical activity. Reaching out with a red tendril of his own fire, he slowly poked it and recoiled in shock as pain traveled up his arms. He slowly reached out to _beyond_ the ball of energy, desperately trying to see the runes which made up the barrier spell. But before he could quite see the strange symbols, the room dissolved and he felt himself falling away, plummeting downwards with no end in sight.

**Next morning: **

"Where's Daisuke?" Riku shrieked as she rampaged through the house, flinging the covers back on every bed including the guestroom, kicking the already-fragile bathroom door in whilst Risa was showering and flinging open every cupboard and closet door, as though she expected Daisuke to step out with dust in his hair. "Where is he? KRAD!" She burst into the golden-eyed man's room and shrieked in fury when she was that he was not alone. "For God's sake, wake up!" Snatching a pillow off the floor, she smacked the blond around the head repeatedly until he gave a groan and woke up.

"Whassamatta?" The brunette shifted and looked around, sitting up slowly and letting the blankets fall lower than they should have. Riku screamed and threw the large, feathery pillow at him, telling him to put some clothes on. The boy blinked blearily before he realized exactly where he was. Flushing bright red, he hastily hid under the sheets and watched the chaos unfold before him.

"KRAD! WHERE WERE YOU AND DAISUKE LAST NIGHT?" At the bewildered and resentfully hungover look that Krad gave her, Riku only raised her voice. The brunette didn't believe that anyone could-or would-shout that loudly and still get louder. "DON'T GIVE ME THAT LOOK!" She hollered. "I KNOW EXACTLY WHERE YOU TWO WENT LAST NIGHT, AND DON'T YOU DENY IT!" The Guardian wondered whether he would make it out of this ordeal with his hearing intact and suddenly the night's events came crashing down on his head. Through the cacophony of noise he could only make out the words 'guy', 'Daisuke' and 'where'. Putting the puzzle together, he grinned at the thought of his redheaded partner waking up in a stranger's room. He could just imagine the fuss that the younger Guardian would make. Nevertheless, his head hurt far too much to laugh about anything, and he knew that if he didn't get into the shower soon, he could very well end up late for class. However, as soon as he crawled out of bed, Riku's screeching abruptly stopped, the brunette in his bed giggled and a cool breeze made its way across some _very_ sensitive parts. "Oh my GOD!" Riku squalled. "Put some clothes on, for the love of all that's good and holy!" Krad whipped his blanket off the bed, uncaring of his partner, and stumbled towards the bathroom. A minute later, Risa screamed and the brunette in the bed wondered whether the house was always like this.

Krad somehow managed to prevent Risa from doing any further damage to his eardrums-one screaming twin was bad enough, thanks-and crawled into the shower, desperately wishing that he'd asked her to make a banana milkshake for him before she left the bathroom. Then again, perhaps not; the heavens alone knew what Risa could do to an innocent, normally indestructibly milkshake. Due to his fragile state of mind, Daisuke did not even enter his thoughts until late afternoon. The blond did not visit Dark that day, although he might have been wiser to do so; the journalist had an extraordinary number of recipes for hangover cures tucked away in his brain.

**Satoshi:**

The blue-haired man looked from the glass of water in his hand to his still-sleeping sensei, anticipating the moment of torture his sensei would go through as soon as the freezing liquid drenched his head and pillow. Smiling serenely, he tipped the glass, making sure that the stream of water hit its target. There was no point in wasting perfectly good liquid after all, was there?

True to form, his sensei sprang up, horror written on his features as a pair of pointed, red ears tipped with black sprouted from his auburn hair and a large, bushy tail began to grow. Before long, there was nothing to suggest that there had ever been a person in the room; a red-and-black fox sat on the wet bed instead.

"Why did you do that?" The fox mildly inquired, its nose twitching and sky-blue eyes fixed on Satoshi.

"You weren't waking up, sensei," Satoshi replied, equally coolly. "And besides, this is urgent." The fox's ears pricked up and bright eyes turned towards the artist. "I see I have your attention now."

The animal stared. "Oh, so you have been keeping your eyes and ears open," he chuckled. "And here I was, thinking that you needed to be reminded of your…job here."

"Dark Mousy."

Azure eyes crinkled in delight. "The one who disappeared off the radar a year ago?"

"The very same."

A sudden puff of smoke arose from the bed and Satoshi sighed, looking at his now-undressed, human sensei. "Put some clothes on. I'll make breakfast."

"Good grief, no!" His sensei practically leapt off the bed. "I'll die if I have to eat your idea of breakfast! _I'll_ cook and _you_ just…just talk, all right?"

**Takeshi:**

Sleepy brown eyes blinked up at the tastefully decorated ceiling. He wasn't in his room-forget that, he wasn't in his own house! Where was he? Takeshi slowly sat up and looked around, shifting uncomfortably as a sliver of pain shuddered up his lower back. _What was I doing last night? _Then he remembered, and he turned to see his boss, Takegawa-san, sleeping peacefully next to him. _Oh, f-ck_.

He'd been having dinner with the man, he remembered. In a very fancy hotel, where the waiters had raised an eyebrow at his dusty suit and then held their tongues upon seeing his boss. Just how much did the newspapers make, anyway? Because if Takegawa-san was coming here often enough for the staff to recognize him, either the writers were getting ripped off or the other came from money. Old money.

It hadn't gone too badly, Takeshi reflected. He hadn't spilt the champagne although his hands were shaking so badly that he was afraid of doing so. His boss merely smiled at him all throughout dinner, asking questions about his personal life. In fact, the guy wasn't so bad once he didn't talk shop, and by his third glass of wine, the journalist was telling his boss about Sally the Mustang, the dog he and Dark had found, and their odd relationship. Then…what had happened? The other man had leaned forward, he'd felt lightheaded and slightly queasy, and from there on his mind went blank.

The next thing he knew, he was back at home, sleeping on his bed and still fully dressed. He could not remember what had happened after Takegawa-san had leaned in after that sixth glass of wine, and the only thing he could think of was how the older man had raised an eyebrow and asked about his day. Strangely enough, he couldn't remember what he'd said afterwards. It was as though anything that had happened after the other man's question about his day had never occurred. He frowned at the slight throb at his temples; surely he hadn't had that much wine?

**Daisuke:**

Daisuke looked at the eternal darkness around him and thought for a moment before slowly standing up. He half-expected the floor to give way underneath his weight at any moment, but he remained upright. It was rather odd, he thought as he looked down at his jeans and sneakers. Sort of like standing in mid-air but not really.

Out of nowhere, a dainty white and purple laced parasol fluttered down and landed just in front of him. Daisuke cocked his head to one side, lost in thought. Then a plump, well-dressed figure appeared in front of him. She looked normal enough from the shoes upwards, although her clothes were clearly made for the Victorian era if his memory served him correctly. A pair of smart, silver-buckled black shoes polished until they gleamed in the dull light of the…place he was in, a dress made of what looked like mauve velvet edged with delicate white lace at the throat, sleeves and hem, and a large purple hat with a black satin ribbon on the figure's head. However, there was one unsettling thing about the person; she wore a porcelain mask, similar to the ones he'd seen in Venice during Mardi Gras. Then again, he was sure that the Venetian masks had eyeholes; this mask was of a face complete with blue, blue eyes. It was the face of Dark's doll.

"I'm Miranda." The voice was high-pitched, like that of a young girl's, but there was a mechanical undertone to the sound, like that of a robot's voice. It was, Daisuke thought, what the cool feminine voice that announced the stops on the train would sound like if it were ten years younger.

"Um-Daisuke," The redhead offered. He saw no reason to withhold any information from this…person, seeing as she probably already knew a lot about him.

"Will you play with me, Daisuke?"

The Guardian swallowed, feeling his pendant burn against his throat. "I-I don't understand," he offered weakly.

The perfect, coral lips curved upwards in a small, eerie smile. "You don't understand the rules of _Sharan Dovrinya_?" Daisuke stared, still bewildered. "Then I will teach you!" The Guardian felt a shudder of thunder magic course through his blood, shooting through his chest. He gasped as a shower of his own blood splattered the darkness and the doll, crimson eyes widening as the droplets began to glow. The doll raised her finger and began to trace an intricate sign in the air, that still, serene smile remaining on her face even as he began to scream.

**Dark:**

He had never been much of a morning person, preferring to lie in bed until the last possible moment. However, the cold, wet nose poking into his ear did nothing to help him achieve that goal. He grunted and turned to face the window, only to wince at the sunlight that was shining into the room. He turned and glared at the large dog resting next to him. "Somehow, I didn't see this part of having a dog," he grumpily informed the animal, which merely barked and ran to the door. The journalist blinked and looked around, resisting the urge to scratch his freshly healed left eye, or even just rub the sleep away. The dog barked again and started to scratch at the dor, as though it wanted to be let out. The purple haired man sighed and carefully got out of bed, being careful not to dislodge any of the tubes attached to his body and dragging the monitor along with him.

Dark decided to find some food for his pet, simply because none of the nurses appeared to have the time to feed an animal as well as the rest of the patients. Judging from the dog's whines, he had the right idea, especially when the animal tried to knock a bag of cookies out of his hand. He wondered how Satoshi was doing, since he hadn't seen the other man for a while now. Well; perhaps he was busy with work. He only hoped that Daisuke came around sometime, since it'd be nice to talk to someone other than Satoshi, Krad or the dog. He frowned and rubbed his hands together; they seemed to be itching an awful lot these days. And just why were his fingertips burning?

**Satoshi:**

He winced as his sensei knocked over his third glass of orange juice, splattering the pristine white tablecloth once more. _I'd forgotten how clumsy he is,_ the man thought irritably. He hated cleaning up, hence the care he took with his things, the logic being that if he didn't make a mess, he wouldn't have to clean anything up. Now, though, his sensei was ruining everything. The blue-haired man cringed inwardly at the thought of having to clean the entire apartment from top to bottom over the weekend, or whenever the man left.

"Already thinking of my departure, my dear pupil?" Cornflower blue eyes twinkled at him from over the rim of the glass.

"I'm hoping you won't destroy the house before you leave," The other replied easily.

"Ah. Well, I'm afraid I'll have to disappoint you then. Don't worry," the man smirked, "I'll be gentle." Satoshi didn't bother replying. "But," The other continued, "I really do need to see your friend-Dark Mousy, is it?" Satoshi paused for a moment and then nodded slowly. His sensei must have sensed some uncertainty, for he looked up from his plate of eggs and toast and frowned, those sky-blue eyes filled with suspicion. "You haven't forgotten our job, have you?" Satoshi shook his head sullenly. "Good." The fox gave him an open, friendly smile, the same one that had earned him the nickname of the Dashing Highwayman. "I don't relish the task of having to remind just what we're trying to accomplish here."

**Krad:**

"Mr. Hikari, would you care to tell me just _what_ you are doing back there?" Tousled blond hair shifted for a moment before its owner looked up. His face was haggard, and his normally sharp golden eyes were slightly glazed and sleepy. In short, he was the very picture of a hung-over student.

Krad was slowly drifting off to sleep as the professor droned on about how to distinguish pottery from the Ming and Song dynasties, and their characteristics. However, his rest was short lived when the man _dared_ to interrupt his sleep. If he'd been in a better mood, he'd have felt sorry for the poor man, really. He was just trying to do his job. Unfortunately, Krad was not in a forgiving mood today, and his already precarious temper, fuelled by a hangover, strained against its leash. The question gave him a jab and before even he realized what was going on, his hands were around the teacher's neck and the man's face was turning blue. Shouts and screams filled the air, whilst two students tried to get the other to loosen his grip. Krad hastily let go and allowed the students to drag him away, all the while staring at his hands. _That's never happened before,_ he thought numbly.

**Fifteen minutes later:**

After what seemed like a lot of shouting and yelling, Krad found himself staring at the front door to his shared apartment with Daisuke and the girls. In his hand, he clutched a note with the time for an appointment with the school doctor for a psych evaluation. The golden-eyed man looked up and sighed. Well, at least his headache was gone.

He opened the door and entered, only to find the place in a mess. It wasn't the mess created by four young people living together in the same house, but a mess that showed that the apartment had been ransacked. Books had been torn off the shelves, the television teetered on the edge of its console and two of the doorknobs appeared to have been brutally wrenched off. Krad hastily made his way to his room, hoping that whoever had entered was a mere burglar, and not something-or someone-else.

Racing to the closet in his room, he flung the doors open and stared in horror at the mess on the floor. _Damn,_ he groaned inwardly as he saw a black heap of tattered cloth. _That Armani jacket cost my soul!_ Crouching down, he pushed an assortment of shoes and socks to the side, breathing out a sigh of relief as he saw the old Nike shoebox lying at the back. Pulling it towards him, he waved a hand over the container and closed his eyes, muttering the unlocking code under his breath. The cardboard box shuddered in his hand and slowly turned into a wooden chest with a heavy, flame-coloured lock holding it closed. The lock disappeared at a touch of his fingertips and the man felt a sense of hope come over him. Perhaps their little uninvited guest was just a petty burglar after all. He slowly opened the box and sifted through its contents, breathing out a sigh of relief when he found that nothing was missing. _Daisuke should probably check his, too,_ the blond thought. _Wherever he keeps it._

Another thought followed on the heels of the first. _Speaking of which,_ Krad thought, _where _is_ Daisuke? I haven't seen him all morning._ He frowned a little harder before deciding to just wait until classes were certainly over for the day. After all, it wasn't as though he was the other's babysitter; he was the furthest thing from it. He began to pick up the things in his room, determined to clean the place up before everyone came home and gave him hell for not doing it. Suddenly he felt a breeze across the back of his neck, and he knew that he was not alone.

**Dark:**

He smiled hopefully at the doctor, determined to be polite and trying to make up for his irritated outburst the day before. "So, doctor…" he began carefully, trying to think of the best way to ask when he could leave.

"Yes, Mr. Mousy, you may leave today. You're fit as a fiddle, it seems." Dark smiled and nodded, practically bouncing with anticipation. He hated staying still and lying in bed, waiting to get better.

"Thank you, sensei!" Dark rolled out of the bed as soon as the man had finished checking his vitals and injuries-well, scars actually, and made a run for the white closet. The dog, still sitting at the foot of the bed, whined whilst the journalist dressed, jumping up only when the other had finished packing and walked out the door of the hospital room for the last time.

He returned to his apartment in no time at all, flinging open the door and looking around the familiar living room with a sigh of relief. The dog, on the other hand, spent a little more time at the front door, sniffing around the shoe cabinet and paying particular attention to the umbrella stand. Dark grinned and walked into the bathroom, determined to have a comfortable shower in the privacy of his own flat. As he undressed, he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror and stared at his missing eye and starkly smooth skin. It was as though everything but his eye had healed overnight. He remembered the stack of pamphlets the hospital had given him detailing problems which could come with losing an eye, but so far he hadn't had to go down any stairs or fight anyone, which was probably a good thing. Nevertheless, he never knew when one of his more boisterous neighbours would hold another beer party or beat on some woman or another, leading to noises and confrontations like the one he'd had a week ago after his arm had been scorched. _I wonder how Daisuke and Krad are doing?_ He idly thought before shaking his head. No doubt they were wrapped up in their own case and university work, and to call them would be probably seen as unwelcome interference. Nevertheless, this had never stopped him; in his university days, he was notorious for interfering with others' study schedules during exam period.

He spent the rest of the day wandering around town and walking his new dog. "Dark!" It was Shinya, a friend from high school who had moved into the area only a few months ago. Dark knew that he was supposedly working for an IT firm, but he was slightly hazy on the details.

"Shinya, great to see you!" He grinned at the man, waiting for the other to catch up. "How are you doing, haven't seen you around in ages!" The bespectacled man smiled.

"Good as ever. Ayako's going to have her third child this year." He glowed with pride. "It's going to be a healthy boy," he happily declared. Dark smiled, although he'd personally never really worked very well with young children. They tended to scream too much for him to tolerate them.

"Congratulations," he told the other man. "How are your other kids doing?" Shinya smiled.

"Just fine Dark, just fine. They're all so big now; you should really drop by and see them sometime!" Before the journalist could say anything else, the redheaded Shinya looked closely at him. "I don't remember you having an eyepatch," he commented.

Dark shifted uncomfortably. "Haha, yes, of course," he said, playing for time. "Well, things change…"

Brown eyes narrowed in concern. "Are you sure you're all right?" The man demanded. Dark smiled ruefully, remembering just how persistent the other could be when he wanted.

"Yes, of course I'm fine," he commented lightly. "It doesn't feel strange at all." The lamp post abruptly loomed in front of him at an alarming rate and Dark stepped back, blinking once and looking, only to find his dog straining at its makeshift leash and the lamp post suddenly seeming much further away. "Sorry," he laughed, staggering slightly and leaning heavily on the redhead for support. "I suppose these eye problems are playing up a little. But the doctor says I'll probably be fine in a couple of weeks, so—"

Shinya was staring. "What did you do, Dark?" He asked worriedly. "How on earth would you lose an _eye_?" The journalist shrugged, hoping that his dog would choose to find something interesting and run after it. Thankfully, a butterfly fluttered in front of the creature's nose, causing the redhead to yelp and jump at least a foot into the air, and the dog to go haring after the insect. "Bye Shinya, nice talking to you!" Dark yelled back as he followed his pet. _Thank heavens, _he thought, although he was really going to have to think of a plausible excuse to offer his office when he returned to work. After all, losing an eye was a rather noticeable thing, especially when you relied on the things for a living.

**Takeshi:**

He was puttering around the house aimlessly, mind whirling with the facts he'd learned from accidentally overhearing the conversation in Dark's room yesterday, desperately trying to recall what he'd said in the restaurant with Takegawa. However, like some stubbornly locked safety deposit box, he could not for the life of him remember anything about his conversation with his boss after that really excellent lobster dish.

Scowling at the insistent throbbing in his head, the journalist sighed and decided to make the best of his day off. He wondered why Takegawa-san had suddenly decided to single him out. After all, he was sure that he did just as little work as Dark did, so there was no reason to deal with one but not the other. Takeshi glared at the wall, swallowing hard as remembered what he'd heard whilst standing outside Dark's hospital door. He didn't know what to do next; he knew that it was illogical to dislike someone simply because they shared a job-well, not even job, more like an ex-job-with the person who just happened to be responsible for your father's honourable funeral. Nevertheless, all he could think of was screaming at the man for keeping such a large secret from him. How was it that Satoshi, the Ice Prince, got to hear all of Dark's secrets? Since when had they been such close friends, anyway? Takeshi scowled, feeling just a little hurt that the other didn't trust him enough to tell him.

He had no idea how lucky he had been.

**Takegawa:**

Shinichiro Takegawa gulped as he genuflected on the ground of his own floor, fearing for his life and hating himself for it. "I take it all went well?" Shinichiro nodded frantically, ignoring the slight discomfort of his reading glasses digging into his face. "Show me the doll." The dark-haired man didn't move, afraid that standing without permission would result in agony. There was a pause and his master inhaled sharply. "Ah, yes. You may rise."

He scrambled to his feet and rushed to the solid, cherry wood desk at the other end of the room. From a secret drawer, he drew out a small vial containing three strands of dark brown hair. Dashing back to his master, he knelt once more and proffered the tiny container, not daring to say a word. His master smiled coldly. "Is this it?" The other nodded fervently. "Good work." A hand patted his head, almost like a master rewarding his dog. Takegawa swallowed hard before deciding to speak. It appeared that the Master was in a good mood tonight.

"Master?" His voice trembled slightly. Storm-grey eyes looked down at him in mild surprise, as though a chair had spoken.

"Yes?" Takegawa could not see the amusement that began to fill the other's eyes, nor the soft smile that played at the corner of the other man's thin lips.

"You promised—"

A soft sigh. Takegawa trembled as the intricately worked hem in front of his nose swayed slightly, indicating that his Master was thinking. "Yes, I am well aware of my promise. You asked for greatness, did you not?" The man nodded hard. "Hm…greatness above all others, was it?" Another frightened nod. The fact that the master was talking so much tonight did not bode well. After all, the Magician was hardly one to trifle over wording like a lawyer. "Of course. I remember that well. Rise, Shinichiro." He tried to stand, but found that he could not. "Oh? You cannot stand?" The voice sighed. "Come with me, then. Look into the mirror, over there. It's all right. You can crawl." His Master's voice was deceptively soothing, and for a moment Takegawa thought that he would see his kingdom in the mirror. After all, Illusion was one of the man's greatest talents.

He stared at his reflection in the mirror. Instead of a moderately handsome man dressed in formal evening wear, he saw a Canis. However, this Canis had an ornate golden collar around its neck. Swirling, sinous blue symbols covered its body, and Takegawa shook his head, unable to do anything but stare in horror as the Canis, too, shook its head. He glanced at the reflection of his Master's smiling face and froze in horror, too frightened to say anything. A hand petted his head once more, and scratched behind his ears. To his dismay and shock, Shinichiro Takegawa felt a sense of satisfaction come over him. "You _are_ the greatest, Shinichiro." That smooth voice flowed over his senses. "You are now the greatest of my dearest creations-the Canis." The ex-editor could only tremble in fright. "It is a great honour, you know. Most people would die for this opportunity. Come now, we should go home." A hand tugged at his ornate leash, and Shinichiro knew that he would no longer be human again. "Oh, Shinichiro," the voice said above him, "don't worry. If you're very, very good, I may just let you walk on two feet again."

* * *

Thank you for reading, and reviews are much appreciated. :)""You


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12: **

Disclaimer: I don't own DN Angel.

Warnings: I don't think they're necessary any more, since you've come this far without leaving.

* * *

_I will not put my feet up on the desk. _

Krad sighed as the counselor looked him over, pale eyes almost timid and his back slightly hunched over, like a child who had spent his years covering his work from other cheaters in class.

"Mr. Hikari, why are you here?"

"Don't call me Mr. Hikari – I'm _Krad_."

There was an awkward pause as the counselor stared once more. Then he licked his lips nervously and scribbled something down on the sheet of paper in front of him. "Very well, Krad. Why are you here?"

_Well, I don't know._ "I was told I needed to…resolve some issues." To his surprise, the other man looked up and smiled slightly.

"I would hardly call the reasons for your actions 'issues', Krad. Why do you think you're here?"

_Screw it, my feet are _so _going on the desk._

He staggered out of the office an hour later, already thinking of ways to torture the morons who had given the school counselor his degree in Psychology. Snarling and growling to himself, he went home, Daisuke not even crossing his thoughts once. The redhead had a habit of disappearing off to unknown places on his own, and he was a big boy now. He was sure that the younger Guardian was fully capable of taking care of himself.

**Dark: **

It was a lot harder to navigate the steps than he'd originally thought. Every time he even so much as _looked _at them, they seemed to merge into the ground until he could no longer tell which parts were raised and which parts were not. He could not even begin to guess where the steps began and where they ended. The journalist growled and cursed the doll quietly under his breath, fervently wishing he'd never kept the thing.

After carefully navigating the steps leading down to the main lobby, he sighed in relief and looked around once more, checking for any signs of the unsavoury characters that tended to wander into the building now and again. It wouldn't do to be mugged after losing an eye, now, would it?

His dog was back in the apartment and as Dark made his way down to the grocery store, he found himself wishing for the company. Or perhaps not; the creature had woken him and the rest of the floor up by howling at the alley cats which habitually congregated outside the flats at midnight, only pausing for breath. Needless to say, the cats disappeared and Dark had had to immediately come up with a host of creative excuses that would satisfy his very angry neighbours. He couldn't help but think that some of them deserved it though; those old Chinese spinsters really needed to learn just how noisy mahjong games at midnight could be.

On the way back, Dark ran through a list of possible excuses explaining his missing eye. It was a difficult handicap to hide, to say the least. He vaguely wondered what the two Guardians would have said; he was sure they had their own way of evading uncomfortable questions. Humming as he arrived in the lobby and checked his mailbox, he noticed a letter bearing the official stamp of the newspaper he worked for, and his heart sank.

Dark sat in his own apartment, stunned by how quickly the news team had decided to drop him. _Perhaps it's to avoid any hassles with HR, _he thought gloomily. The newspaper hadn't been doing as well as it could have been, and money was tight. What better way to cut back than on firing old employees? He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the television and almost laughed out loud at the sight. A one-eyed man with wild hair stared back at him. _Look at me,_ he thought. _I'm a Cyclops, almost thirty and now unemployed, still living in a crappy apartment with a dog that no one wants. _But what he didn't know was that had Daisuke or Krad been next to him, they would have backed away from the bolts of red and purple flying in jagged spikes from his aura.

**Satoshi: **

"Quit your job."

Satoshi stared. "What?" He could hardly believe his ears.

"You heard me, boy. Quit your job."

"But—"

"You're there to keep an eye on Dark Mousy, not actually work. There's no point staying if he's already been fired, is there? Offer to find a job with him; I'm sure there are plenty of TV stations that would love to have an attractive pair of potential anchors join. What about Link Networks?"

Satoshi didn't trust his sensei at all-not one little bit. "Sensei, there are no openings at LN. If there were, I'd know." The redhead grinned and turned around, his teeth showing in a smile that promised danger.

"There are now." At the look of resistance on his pupil's face, the man simply tossed him the cordless phone. "Go on," he encouraged the younger man, smiling all the while. "Call Link Networks. Ask for Saionji."

**Daisuke:**

"There's no point in fighting." The doll was still floating in front of him as he howled to the heavens, praying for a respite or even death. Anything was better than this searing pain that threatened to cook his bones and boil his blood. "You wouldn't be able to get out anyway, even if you could unlock the spell."

"Why…why-why am I…here?" Daisuke wheezed, throwing his head back to scream as the pain rolled into him again.

The doll smiled. "Leave our Master alone." Daisuke wheezed and gasped in his prison, squeezing his eyes shut as a trickle of blood made its way down his forehead, coming precariously close to his eye. He wanted so badly to slip into the darkness that beckoned him but couldn't, only able to squirm weakly in his prison. He wanted to ask who this 'Master' was, but couldn't find the strength to do so. Still, he had to try. With this thought in mind, he forced his dry, cracked lips to open and push out his question.

"Who…Master…?" The puppet merely shook her head and left, letting the dark tendrils of magick crawl over his skin and sink in. The student's head lolled back limply immediately, his body hanging slackly in the rope. The girl looked at him once more, eerie blue eyes glinting in the dim glow of _Sharan Dovrinya_.

"You know," she murmured to the unconscious man, "it's really a pity that you're a Guardian. You might actually help us seal a decisive victory."

Daisuke hung there in darkness, for how long he didn't know. He floated somewhere in the realms of sleep, his mind drifting hazily from one topic to another. Sometimes he thought about what he'd been sent to Azumano to do, other times he found himself running through the gardens as a child again, shouting and pretending to fight demons just like real Guardians did. People wandered through his mind; Risa giggling over a new skirt, Riku trying out her new skateboard at the park, Satoshi teaching him Chemistry and working on his newspaper comic strip at the same time, Krad mumbling swear words when he fell into a pigsty during their time in the English countryside and sitting with Dark, watching 'Shaolin Soccer'. Unbeknownst to him, the doll was still watching him, worry tinging her glassy eyes for a moment before she vanished for a moment, only to return with another creature, one that would have sent fear shooting through Daisuke's veins if he had been awake to see it.

The creature could have passed as a tall human, albeit a tall human with tattooed red skin. The lines made angry trails across its flesh, carving the symbols for life, cruelty, obedience and power into the thing over and over again, reinforcing its purpose. The doll signaled for the creature to begin its work, and the being bent over Daisuke's form, deformed hands moving over the Guardian's face. The doll smiled and leaning over, cooed into the redhead's ear, "Don't worry; you'll be home soon."

**Dark: **

The phone interrupted Dark's miserable thoughts, bringing him back into the real world. He slumped further down into the comfortable sofa, wanting nothing more than to be left to wallow in his own misery. However, the machine kept ringing until finally he heard the small 'click' of the answering machine and Satoshi's voice filled the living room. "Hey Dark, Link Networks has two openings for reporters. You should apply." There was a small pause, as though the other man wanted to say something more but then there was a click and the phone returned to silence. The purple-haired journalist stared at the phone, not daring to believe his ears. _Link Networks_, the company known for its up-to-the-minute reporting and practically unlimited resources.

He hastily dashed to his computer, printing off the application form and filling it out quickly, trying not to let his shaky hands affect his handwriting. He wondered whether he actually had a shot at getting a job at Link, but pushed the doubts aside. He would get this job. He had to.

**Krad: **

He was just minding his own business, walking back to the flat when suddenly a foul odour assaulted his nose, and it wasn't just any foul odour. It was the scent of a hunting Gyakurin, one that was hell-bent on finding its prey. Growling, he rubbed at his nose fiercely but the smell didn't go away; rather, it became stronger. The hairs on the back of his neck tingled and the blond immediately knew that there was one close by. The only problem was that he could not pinpoint the exact location. The creature might as well be standing next to him, for all he knew. Nevertheless, he had to find it. His pendant was already starting to burn against his skin and his senses became sharper as he called on the attributes of his…other form. He only hoped that no one took a close look at him and saw the bloodlust in his eyes. He grinned cruelly and sent tendrils of power out, searching for something that would resist the probing touch of his magick, smiling as _something_ recoiled from his touch. _Ah, a victim,_ he thought happily before nonchalantly strolling over to a patch of sidewalk, just next to the bus stop. He was more than happy to take the creature someplace else before ripping it apart with his bare hands.

It was the work of a few moments to transport himself and the creature to a remote part of the Gobi Desert, stepping back to allow the Gyakurin to adapt to its surroundings. After all, Krad was after a satisfying fight, and he did not want to end things sooner than necessary. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to fully change, feeling the slight tug of nails turning into claws stronger than steel and the ache of his canines elongating and sharpening to the point of becoming weapons themselves. It had been a while since the full moon had come out, and he was feeling…itchy.

The Gyakurin turned its ugly, insect-like head towards him, mouthparts clicking and still emitting that disgusting stench. The sight was really enough to make someone freeze in fear, Krad reflected. _It's basically a giant centipede with extra poison_. But he wasn't afraid. He was used to seeing these things.

In a heartbeat, the Gyakurin was on him, all hundred poison tipped legs slashing and slashing like some kind of efficient machine on its highest setting. The Guardian dodged the claws, baring his fangs and looking for a place in which to sink his own formidable weapons. Catching a glimpse of a dull spot amongst the creature's shiny red and blue skin, he lunged for it, only to hiss in agony as his fangs clanged off the equally hard area. _What the f--?_ He thought incredulously as the demon scuttled around, turning to face him in the sands. _Where's its sweet spot?_ Every other Gyakurin he and Daisuke had ever fought had always been vulnerable on its dull areas or below its belly. The centipede slowly lowered itself, only to open its glistening jaws. Then Krad saw it. He saw something glowing inside its monstrous maw, looking for all the world like the kind of bizarre tongue accessory that teenagers all wore nowadays. _Who the hell modified it? _The Guardian thought. Then the demon moved and he found himself flung back into a sand dune, the stuff immediately entering his eyes and blinding him. Cursing and rolling, he only barely managed to avoid the furiously moving legs once more as the Gyakurin closed in for the kill.

"No you f--ing _don't_," he hissed in anger, claws suddenly turning dark red and red, sore eyes narrowing. The mouthparts clicked once more as the creature charged, saliva dripping obscenely from its jaws whilst the little thing inside its mouth glowed all the more brightly. Krad easily leapt away, but his anger was still there. All the irritation from the past few days, with Daisuke AWOL for no apparent reason, the twins' nagging and now his psychological evaluation all built up and in a mighty roar, he charged the demon, meeting it head on and tussling with it, ignoring the scratches on his body from the poisonous tips. He would deal with those later. Right now, he was going to tear this thing apart from section to monstrous section.

Ripping wildly at the hard armour that covered most of the Gyakurin, Krad bit and slashed at the creature, letting out his wild fury. Suddenly the whole world went silent, but the Guardian didn't notice as he fought the creature, tearing at whatever came into his grasp.

Finally he reached the jaws…and that was when he knew that the battle needed to end quickly. He was already losing his hearing from the poison, and any longer would only strip him of sight, taste, smell and sensation. The longer he waited, the likelier he was to die. Of course, that wasn't going to happen. Without thinking and still in the throes of his bestial form, Krad plunged one, large clawed hand into the Gyakurin's mouth and literally ripped its tongue out, along with the glowing thing. As though he were picking berries, he plucked the small blue orb out of the organ and tossed the black, slimy thing into the sand. Even as he watched, the centipede demon began to glow. Although it didn't change much in appearance or size, Krad knew that the 'sweet spot' had just become available and he didn't waste any time. He lunged once more at the thing and sank his claws into soft, yielding flesh, tearing his way through the creature. It screeched in pain and reared up, wildly clawing at itself to try and get rid of the nuisance, but the Guardian was having none of it. With one final howl, he sent a bolt of Light magick through the demon, searing its insides and turning the entire thing into a small pile of dust, quickly blown away by the desert wind. Smirking, Krad pocketed the orb and returned to his human form before taking himself back to Azumano. He didn't care that he now smelled like Gyakurin, covered in that disgusting stench, or that his clothes were ruined beyond repair. The beast had been appeased. Whistling to himself, the blond man returned home, toying with the little blue orb he'd so recently acquired. _I wonder what I just picked up?_

He opened the door quickly, blinking at the sight of the redhead who lay on the couch. "Daisuke?" He asked incredulously. He couldn't believe that his own prim and proper partner was snoring away on the couch, in full view of anyone who happened to enter the apartment.

**Satoshi: **

"Make sure he gets that job."

Satoshi sighed and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose. "I know," he calmly replied, having heard that order for the fifth time in thirty minutes. "Though how, I don't." He hastily ducked the magazine that came flying his way, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he glimpsed the cover of the thing. "Hustler?" He mildly inquired, turning to look at the fox.

"Yes, Hustler," his sensei snapped before putting his feet up on the glass coffee table. "You might want to consider reading it sometime. It's very edifying."

The blue-haired man did not dignify the last comment with a reply, carefully picking up the magazine as though it were some kind of bio-hazardous waste and flinging it into the trash can. His sensei immediately straightened up and yowled, "You can't do that!" Satoshi turned to face the older man and calmly crossed his arms.

"No. You are _not _going to read porno magazines in my house." His glasses glinted in the sunlight and for a moment it seemed as though a shadow of someone else passed over his face.

"It is not porno!" The man protested. "Hustler does not qualify as pornography any more than trashy romance novels do!" He dashed over to the bin and fished the magazine out, waving it in his annoyed pupil's face. "I read these to you every night when you were in my tutelage!"

"I'm sure Freud would have had something to say about that." He saw that his sensei was about to protest further and pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Look, keep the blasted thing, and clean up after yourself." His sensei's demeanour immediately went from desperate to delighted, rather like a child just given _carte blanche_ to choose anything in the toy store. Satoshi sighed and returned to his place on the sofa, immersing himself once more in Camus.

"Hiwatari, I'm bored." Blue eyes flickered up to glance coolly at his sensei before returning to 'The Stranger'. With a growl of annoyance, his teacher stood up and went to the kitchen, clearly intent on making dinner. _Good, _the blue-haired journalist thought. At least he would be left in peace for most of the evening. Unfortunately, his quest for peace and quiet like the kind he'd had before his sensei showed up was to be fruitless, for the dissonant clatter of many heavy steel objects falling onto the kitchen tiles soon cut through the silence, followed by the man's colourful and multi-lingual curses. Casting his eyes upwards and searching vainly for patience, he finally stood up and went to supervise the making of dinner. It wasn't his sensei's cooking that was bad; it was just the starting up that inevitably turned the kitchen into something that would have haunted Cinderella's nightmares. Not for the first time, Satoshi Hiwatari wondered why out of all the sensei, he had to get the one who behaved like a child, temper tantrums included.

"Why the sudden hurry?" Satoshi asked his master over a dish of spiced chicken. "You've pretty much ignored me after I got posted to Azumano, and then you suddenly appear after six years and start telling me to follow Dark like I haven't already been doing so for the six months."

The redheaded man hesitated for a moment before growling. "I always said you were too smart. You've just proven it." Satoshi glared.

"I'm not a mindless robot. So if you were looking for a good little Agent, you've picked the wrong student."

His sensei sighed and leaned back in his chair. "Satoshi, you're letting your curiosity cloud your mind. At least, I hope it's your curiosity, for your sake more than anyone else's."

The journalist leaned forward, challenging his master with an icy gaze. "I haven't forgotten anything," he said in a steely tone. "I'm a fully-fledged member of the Agency. I live to keep watch on the Five Temples. I serve only the Spymaster. Are you happy, _sensei_?" He hissed the final question, knowing how much the final vow irked his teacher. However, the older man showed no response, instead rising to tower over the blue-eyed man.

"Good. I expect you to remember that. And keep an eye on Dark. You may have been able to slack off whilst no one from the Agency cared where you were, but I'm here now. You'd best start writing, for your sake." With those words he swept out, leaving Satoshi staring at the dishes on the table. The journalist sat in complete silence for a moment before burying his face in his hands. He'd known right from the beginning that Dark Mousy was special, different from the Guardians that swarmed this town, but if the Agency was getting itself directly involved, affairs were moving along at a much more rapid pace than he'd anticipated. Satoshi Hiwatari was rarely wrong, but he feared that this time his mistake would cost him dearly, especially after the Spymaster read his report. He only prayed that he would not be transferred elsewhere.

**Krad and Daisuke:**

"What're you doing?" growled Krad. He knew that the younger man had likely been out all night, but there was no excuse for his snoring on the couch, of all places. "At least have the decency to get back to your own room," he mumbled under his breath as he set about the difficult task of waking the younger Guardian up. Shaking the redhead, he finally managed to elicit a response, only to recoil at the look in Daisuke's eyes. Not because he was afraid, or because the crimson orbs held any danger in them; but because they were blank. They were devoid of the life that a soul gave a human body; they were little more than just beautiful, red glass orbs. "D-Daisuke?" he asked, hoping desperately that he was wrong and that the other was just playing a trick on him. At worst, he was hopped up on drugs. It would be a hassle to detoxify him in a hospital, but much better than the outcome that had seared through his mind at the first sight of the emptiness.

"Who are you?"

Krad froze. "What?"

"Who are you? I don't know you."

_Oh sh--._ The blond prayed that the worst had not happened. "I'm Krad, remember?" He forced a smile out, hoping that the fear in his eyes didn't show. "Your partner? The guy you live with?"

"I don't know you." Daisuke was starting to regain his senses and he looked around the living room uncomfortably. "Where am I?" His voice was getting louder, his tone more frantic. "Did you bring me here? I don't like it. Let me go home." Krad took a few deep breaths.

"Daisuke, we're…" The words died away on his lips as the full ramifications of Daisuke's memory loss hit him. _He can't know about the mission. He mustn't. Not until he gets his memory back. Time to change tack. _"We're going to go home soon, okay Daisuke?" The next question confirmed his worst fears.

"You keep calling me Daisuke. Is that my name?" Krad was torn between rage, horror and fear at the sight of his partner, the only Guardian to be blessed with the Hand of Judgement in the last four hundred years, desperately trying to recall his own name. The only thing he could think of at the moment, much to his dismay, was whether or not Daisuke would remember how to cook his eggs properly in the morning ever again.

"Stay there," the blond told his partner. "I'll be back and then we can go home." Daisuke nodded immediately, settling down once more on the couch.

Krad didn't know what else to do. Running into the kitchen, he skimmed through the wads of paper stuck on the fridge, desperately looking for Satoshi's number. With shaking hands, he dialed the number and waited. The suspense was agony, and when the blue-haired journalist finally picked up the phone, Krad could only spit out his request. "I need Dark's phone number." As much as he hated to call the purple-haired man, he knew that this time was an emergency, and Dark was the only one aside from Satoshi who knew about their being Guardians. Satoshi was just about as useful as Dark in this case, but the blond figured that since Daisuke appeared to have taken a liking to the journalist he may as well try the other. Who knew what would jog his memory now, anyway?

_2…4…9…3…5…7…6…6. _He waited for what seemed like an eternity for someone to pick up the phone, unable to prevent a sigh of relief from escaping his lips as he heard the familiar although not well-loved voice answer. "Hello?"

"Dark, this is Krad." There was a pause on the phone before the older man finally responded.

"Yes?"

"Daisuke's lost his memory."

There was another pause, along with the sound of papers shuffling as though the amethyst-eyed journalist was not fully concentrating on the phone call. A loud bark sounded over the phone and there was a clatter and the sound of murmured instructions, clearly Dark telling his mutt to go away and not bother him. "You have a dog, journalist?"

"What do you want me to do?" Dark asked simply. Krad had to give it to the man; his potential interest had lost his memory and all he could do was ask what his panicking friend wanted? _Jackass,_ the Guardian seethed.

"Well, you coming over would be nice," he sarcastically replied.

"Look, I'm out of a job, I have one eye and I have a gigantic dog to take care of. So you'll excuse me for being just a little bit busy. We don't all have an all-expenses paid account, so some of us actually do need to work." Dark sounded irritated. "If you called me because you think I might be able to help in some way, just _tell _me. Don't start with some bullsh—idea and expect me to pull a solution out of my ass."

Krad growled, feeling like an idiot for calling Dark. Of course the man would be an ass about things. "Fine," he snapped down the phone. "Don't help. Be a normal human being and play with your dog, or whatever it is you do when you're not being a dickhead."

"Perhaps you should try prank-calling someone with an actual sense of humour. Mine's a little short at the moment."

The blond gawked in a most undignified fashion at the phone before mustering the composure to shout down the phone. "You think I'm _pranking_ you?" He demanded. "You think I'm yanking your chain?"

Dark was in no mood to play games, especially not with someone who had already made it clear that he disliked him. "Yes."

"I'm not doing this for sh—s and giggles, Dark!" Krad nearly spat into the phone. "He's actually lost his f--ing memory! He doesn't remember his own name, for heaven's sake!"

"Then what do you want me to do?" The purple-haired man asked. "Sing to him? Whack him over the head and magically restore his memory?"

"I just want you to f--ing _talk _to him. Maybe he'll actually remember you."

"I highly doubt it."

"Well, I don't. I'm going to put you on the line now, so don't hang up." Krad leaned out to where Daisuke could see him and waved frantically to the redhead, motioning for him to come over and talk on the phone. With a bewildered look, the Guardian came over and carefully picked up the strange contraption, mimicking the way the older student had previously held it. He waited for something to happen and almost jumped at the sound of the voice coming from the little machine.

"Daisuke? That you?" He didn't know the voice, but it was nice. Sort of soothing, and maybe even warmer when it wasn't tinged with worry. Daisuke swallowed hard, looking around as though hoping for some way to communicate with the black thing in his hands. Krad sighed in exasperation as his partner looked around, clearly unsure of how to use the phone.

"Talk," the blond growled reluctantly, still unable to come to grips with the fact that the other man had been reduced to some kind of child who could talk but couldn't even use a phone. "He'll hear you," he snapped in response to the questioning look the redhead gave him.

"Daisuke?" Dark was starting to think that the whole thing was just one of Krad's stupid university-student pranks when a quiet voice quavered over the line.

"H-Hi."

The journalist blinked. In the short time he had known Daisuke, never had the redhead shown any such uncertainty in his voice. There had always been a quiet confidence behind his words, but it was absent from here. "Hi. How are you?"

"I'm all-all right."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Daisuke swallowed hard, feeling worried that he would do something wrong and that the blond would take the little machine away. "I want to go home." He said quietly.

"Sorry?"

The redhead took another deep breath. "I want to go home."

"You are home, aren't you Daisuke? You're calling from your apartment that you share with Krad and the girls." _Krad? _The name whirred through his mind but no one with that name surfaced in his mind.

"Who's Krad? I don't know anyone called Krad. Is he the blond man next to me?"

Dark froze. The last time he'd heard this question, it had been directed to a nurse. The last time anyone had asked that, it had been about him. It had been about his mother, suffering Alzheimer's and unable to remember anything about her husband or son. Only thinking and talking about her school friends who now lived in Nevada. Swallowing the wave of shock and fear of being abandoned that swept over him, he asked once more, "Daisuke, are you all right?"

There was the sound of soft sniffling over the phone. "Y-yes. I want to go home now!"

Dark put on his best soothing voice, the one he'd been told could charm the birds right out of the trees. "Daisuke, where is home?"

There was a pause. "With you. Isn't it?"

Stunned silence accompanied the question. Krad, meanwhile, was tapping his foot on the kitchen floor, listening idly to a one-sided conversation that had nothing to do with him. He blinked as Daisuke carefully proffered the phone to him, taking it as though it were loaded and making his presence known over the line. "Yo, Dark. What's up?"

"He thinks he lives with me."

Golden eyes widened. A small smile curved Krad's lips for the first time since coming home and he asked with a laugh in his voice, "Does he now?"

"Yes." Dark didn't know whether to grin in triumph at finally getting a shot at Daisuke without the blond Guardian's interference, or whether to cringe at the loss of his much-loved privacy. With his dog lying around, he wasn't sure if he could take the presence of another person with him. His thoughts were spoiled by Krad's next sentence.

"Well, then live with you he shall." Before the journalist could protest, Krad had already hung up and was dragging Daisuke to his room. "Come on, Dai. Let's get your stuff packed and you home with Dark." The redhead's innocent eyes widened as he realized in panic that he didn't know this 'Dark' person.

**Takeshi:**

He turned on his music, trying to occupy himself with some mundane task to shake the feeling of being watched. Nevertheless, the tingly feeling at the back of his neck continued and he slowly walked to his room, dreading the feeling of being alone. Normally he would call Dark over, or the other man would drop by unannounced holding a bag of Thai takeout, grin on his face and ready to get hammered, but his friend had been awfully busy lately. And to tell the truth, Takeshi wasn't sure if he was ready to face a man whom he now knew to have shared an occupation with the man who had killed his father all those years ago. As he bent over to pick up a fallen pen cap, he never saw the shadow that fell across the room. In a heartbeat, his fallen body was gone, replaced by a man who looked, sounded and smiled like Saehara Takeshi. But Saehara Takeshi was no more.

"Good work, Takegawa." The Canis standing behind him gave a whimper and slowly sank to the floor, lying there like some nightmarish animal waiting to pounce out of the shadows. Dark brown eyes turned to face the creature, a cruel smile twitching at the corner of his lips. "I do hope you'll continue to work like this," the man continued. "It really would be a pity if your usefulness diminished if only because of the change in your form. And besides, Canis are really wonderful creatures. Sometimes, I even think they can understand my intentions before I command them. Isn't that interesting?" Takegawa could only cower and pray that his Master did not suddenly decide that Takeshi's guise wasn't enough, and want to acquire more bodies.

As though sensing his thoughts, his master turned around, dark eyes looking at the dog in front of him. "Don't worry, Takegawa," he said softly. "I won't leave you alone. In fact, I think you'll like my next plan."

**Dark: **

He hung up the phone and stared at the dog sitting next to him, wondering just what had happened. Krad had not sounded happy except for when he was telling Dark to prepare for an impromptu sleepover. Daisuke didn't sound good either; since when had he been so timid? Apart from the first day they had met, he had never heard the younger Guardian show uncertainty or fear. "What do you think, boy?" He asked the dog. "Ready for a sleepover?" The animal appeared to grow excited by the thought of more new people to meet, it barked happily, the glow around it becoming more intense. The purple-haired man grinned and slowly stood up. If Daisuke was going to be staying here for a while, he'd best prepare the spare room. He highly doubted the redhead, as traumatised as he was, would stand for sleeping in the same bed as another man, especially if he didn't remember said man.

He found it strange to look at the bedroom after he was done. He'd managed to root out some old spare sheets, a little worn but still intact, and the bed was neatly made. It felt strange to see the spare room aired out again; Dark had never imagined that it would be used for anything more than storage. Looking around, he nodded to himself in satisfaction and headed back into the living room to watch some television. He needed to keep up with the news if he was going to work at Link Networks, provided they even offered him a position. He would send the application form in first thing tomorrow morning.

All too soon, the doorbell rang. Much to his disgust, butterflies made themselves known in his stomach as he approached the door and slowly opened it. _Don't be an idiot,_ he told himself shortly. _Daisuke's stayed over before, and you didn't seem to really care. So just act normal._ He looked at the two Guardians on his doorstep and fought the urge to recoil in shock. Daisuke's eyes were blank and innocent, almost as pure as a child's. For a moment he saw a shadow come over the other's eyes, blocking it like a thin film of darkness, but it was gone and Dark shook his head, cursing at the loss of his left eye.

"How's the eye going?" Krad casually asked.

Dark smiled and stepped aside to let the two in. "It's all right," he said. He thought about telling the student about his vision problems, but figured that the other probably wouldn't care. It wasn't as thought Krad, of all people, could or would do anything about it. "How are you two?"

The corners of Krad's mouth twitched slightly even as his eyebrows drew downwards in a frown. _So perhaps that wasn't the best question to ask,_ Dark thought dryly.

"Well, I've had an absolutely _marvelous_ day," the senior told him. "I saw my school counselor, fought a poisonous Gyakurin and extracted something out of the ordinary from it, I still have sand in my pants and now my partner's memory has gone MIA. Not bad at all." Dark covered a smile with one hand at the thought of Krad sitting at some faceless student counsellor's desk. He almost pitied the man. Almost.

"Should you even mention Guardian stuff around Daisuke?" Dark asked.

"Well, I'm hoping that something will trigger his memory, and he needs to get back into the groove of things anyhow," the blond said carelessly. "We-the Temple-need him. We need every damn Guardian we've got. Things are heating up."

Dark raised an eyebrow. "Amnesia doesn't really follow the normal course of time," he dryly remarked. "What if these 'things' you keep worrying about happen before he regains his memory?" He peered at Daisuke's face, ignoring the stubborn twist of the mouth that signaled a forthcoming display of awe-inspiring mulishness upon the redhead's part. In spite of his confusion, the crimson-eyed man was determined not to let anyone push him around.

He turned to Dark. "Do I live here with you?" he demanded. He didn't like being talked about as though he weren't present. "I don't remember anything." Purple eyes regarded him levelly and Daisuke resisted the urge to look at his shoes, suddenly feeling like a five-year old child petulantly trying to get attention from its parents. Then he felt worse for letting this journalist, or whatever he was, treat him like a petulant five-year old. Since when had he been so conscious of others' opinion of him, anyway?

Dark paused for a moment before shrugging. "No, but you seemed convinced that you did over the phone."

"I don't even know your name!"

Dark stared at Krad. "Did you just haul him over here without telling him anything?" The blond shrugged in response, but the journalist caught a glint of mischief in those golden eyes before it was quickly hidden. "You _did_?!" He growled and walked over to the blond, fully intending to give him a piece of his mind.

The other man hastily raised his hands in a gesture of surrender, backing up at the irritation in those amethyst eyes. "Hey, _he_ thought he lived with you. He said so himself!"

The journalist turned back to Daisuke. "What's your name?"

"Um, I'm not sure. I guess it's Daisuke."

Dark nodded hastily. "Okay, so what's your last name?"

The redhead cocked his head to one side, thinking for a moment before nodding decisively to himself. "It's Niwa," he told Dark proudly. "That's good, right? It means I can remember something."

Krad wasn't so sure. "Okay, point to the telephone," he bluntly said. Daisuke looked around for a moment and then pointed at Dark's phone, sitting on the window ledge. The younger Guardian grinned.

"How much memory do you think I lost?" He asked mildly. Krad stared and then stalked out of the apartment. Dark and Daisuke traded looks and the journalist finally burst out laughing.

"Daisuke, just what are you up to?" He asked. "So…how have you been? Has Chemistry been giving you any problems?" The redhead's face dropped and he looked down slowly at the duffle bag at his feet.

"I…don't remember much," he finally said. "I mean, I remember normal stuff, like how to use a computer and how to flush the toilet – I do!" He yelped at the stunned look on Dark's face. "I just don't remember the important things, like who I am or what I'm supposed to be doing. Krad acts like I should know what a Guardian is, or what the – the Temple is, but I don't. When you were talking to him I felt like I'd fallen into another planet or something." Dark blinked and sighed. If someone had told him a week ago that he'd be explaining the idea of Guardians to Daisuke Niwa, who was himself a Guardian, he would have laughed himself sick. But here he was, with said Guardian staring hopefully at him, like he could solve the world's problems.

"Come on," he finally said. "We can talk about that stuff later. Let's get you to your room." With a vague sense of foreboding, he led Daisuke to the guest room. "I hope it's okay," he awkwardly said as he switched on the light. "I haven't used this room for ages." Daisuke looked around, from the worn pink sheets to the stack of boxes in a corner of the room and frowned a little, as though expecting something different.

"It doesn't feel like home," he said shortly. "Did my room…did it always look like this?" It was as though he hadn't heard Dark's previous remarks at all. The purple-haired man shifted uncomfortably. _How do you tell someone it's not their house?_ He asked himself silently, only to find himself looking back down into expectant red eyes.

As though satisfied, Daisuke slowly moved to the bed and set his things down by it, sitting on the piece of furniture almost gingerly. "I don't know if this is home," the redhead said honestly, "but it feels nice." Dark didn't know how to respond and carefully nodded.

"Well, I'll go make dinner then. The bathroom's the second door down the hall, I'm sure you'll find it. And, um," he continued, feeling like some kind of hotel manager, "you'll find towels and things in the wardrobe over there, it's all in compartments and whatnot." He stepped out again, wanting to get rid of the awkwardness between them. It was like a wall of fog between them, one that hadn't existed before Daisuke lost his memory.

**Satoshi's apartment:**

His pupil was in bed, at a surprisingly early hour too. Then again, that cup of coffee might have had something to do with it. Abel Masaryk sighed and shifted once more in his seat, admiring the night view of Azumano and the harbour from his wayward student's house. He absently-mindedly rubbed the arm of the leather sofa he was currently lounging on, doing his best to remain calm. The television was on, bright light and noise filling the living room. A normal scene and a comforting, familiar one when he considered what would happen sometime tonight.

"Mr. Masaryk." The man nearly jumped and turned around.

"Ah, yes," he said, quickly regaining his composure. A flash of contempt ran through those familiar brown eyes and he suppressed the urge to growl, knowing that it would get him nowhere. "Good evening, ma'am," he politely said. "What can I help you with?"

"We have received some disturbing news. The Gyakurin dispatched to find any Guardian in Azumano has been found, brutally slaughtered."

"Oh?" Masaryk cocked his head to one side. "Is that so." The woman nodded once more, not even bothering to hide her impatience anymore.

"It was found in the Gobi Desert with its tongue ripped out. The new prototype is gone." The fox sighed.

"Well, then get it back." The woman stared at him as though he had gone mad. "…Sir?"

"You heard what I said. There's no use having a new prototype if you can't get it." The woman bowed stiffly, standing tall once more. Abel smiled, recognizing her body language. "Tell the Agency everything is under control," he said smoothly. "Do they know about the Gyakurin?"

"Not yet."

"Then they shouldn't. Keep it quiet for as long as you can. If one word so much as _reaches_ me about the Gyakurin in the next week, know that you _will_ be brought in to me. I know where you are, I know who you are. I even know your true appearance." He chuckled at the sudden stiffening of her long limbs. He waved carelessly at her. "Goodbye." She vanished as suddenly as she had arrived, and Abel Masaryk was left once more to his thoughts.

_This isn't good,_ he thought as he looked out at the now-dark sea. _The Agency has never used demons before. That they're starting now is not a good sign._ He was worried; for the first time in forty years with the Agency, he was no longer able to identify their goals, or see what they were working towards. The Agency had been originally created to keep watch over the Five Celestial Temples, to ensure that nothing corrupted them, but it had always had its own agenda as well. Abel sighed and took another long drink from the glass of whisky, newly-bought, in front of him. It was not his place to question their motives, or to second-guess them. He was a grunt, someone only meant to carry out orders. To question anything the Agency did was to ask for trouble.

**Krad:**

The flat was noisy, filled with the clamour of the girls demanding to know where Daisuke had gone. Krad had simply fended them off with a story about a study session-sleepover at someone's house, but he had a feeling that Riku didn't buy it completely. Nevertheless, he had to come up with some explanation for it. He certainly couldn't let the twins know that his redheaded partner had lost his memory, and didn't remember that he lived with them. It was all for the best, he decided. Besides, he really didn't need an incapacitated partner living with him, not when they were undercover. He only hoped that Daisuke had remembered to bring his Box along; if the thing was left in the apartment someone might actually pick it up, or worse yet, throw it out.

Then there was the matter of Dark. His eye was gone, and he had a dog by his side now. His aura had also changed; it was now slightly darker, though admittedly had lightened up a little when he saw Daisuke. Krad was concerned about this. The journalist had changed in the past few days in hospital; he'd somehow hardened. Or maybe he had always been like that, but the hardness only showed when his mask had been previously shattered. But there was that worrisome purple aura-combined with Dark's sudden ability to create fire, it could easily spiral out of control. The blond Guardian

His pendant suddenly burned and he whirled around, only to see a scrap of paper fluttering down onto his desk. He snatched it up and read the message: _Guess who? _He stared at the scrap of paper uncomprehendingly until he realized that he _knew _that handwriting. "Klaus von Brecht," he hissed as his eyes turned red.

* * *

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival everyone, and thank you for reading! Reviews are much appreciated!


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13:**

Disclaimer: I do not own DN Angel.

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* * *

Day Five,_ Dark thought wryly as he worked through the dizzying rush of blood to the head as he got out of bed. Living with Daisuke had turned out not to be as bad as he had initially imagined, but at the same time it was…jarring. It was strange to turn around and see another person where there had only been an empty chair minutes before, or see someone rummaging through one's DVD collection. Speaking of DVDs, he had better hide his porn somewhere else, otherwise heaven alone knew what might happen. He certainly did not want anyone to know of his penchant for certain…acts, and scaring Daisuke was not on his list of Top Ten Things to Do. He staggered over to the bathroom and slammed the door shut, sticking his head under the tap and letting the water run into his hair. Twenty minutes later and he was downstairs, trying his best not to stare enviously at Daisuke's still closed door and imagine how warm and comfy it was in bed.

"Oh baby," he declared happily to his ancient Dell computer, "I missed you so much!" Fondly stroking the side of the monitor, he smiled happily at being able to get back to work as he settled down into the old, squeaky office chair and spun around a few times. Then a familiar blond head popped up, just barely clearing the cubicle wall.

"Ed!" Golden eyes crinkled as the other man laughed and came around.

"Good to see you," the blond grinned. "Office's been quiet without you. Satoshi's been moping around, and Takeshi's been weird lately. Hopefully you'll sort them both out." Dark found himself oddly grateful for the fact that Ed had not mentioned his eyepatch; it was awkward enough knowing that he now had to be careful on the stairs because of the lack of depth perception, or whatever the doctors said. It was even stranger returning with a one-of-a-kind injury. Then again, Ed was not most people. With only one natural arm and leg, he was probably well-versed in how not to talk to people who had just lost body parts.

"Takeshi!" He roared as soon as he saw a familiar mop of black hair make its way into the office. "Where the h-ll were you all this time?" The other man laughed and launched himself at Dark, stopping short and grinning broadly.

"Look at yourself, Dark! All handsome and dashing! I bet the ladies are digging you even more," he laughed before dodging the swipe that the other journalist took at him. "But seriously," he continued more quietly, "everyone's been a little down lately."

Dark grinned up at his friend. "Guess we'll just have to give them something to laugh about then."

**Krad:**

Every time he picked up a phone to call the Temple, Krad always felt slightly odd. You'd think that with mind magic a compulsory part of Guardian training, everyone would just utilize telepathy or some other, more efficient form of communication, but right now everything hinged upon a group of phone operators sitting in a stuffy little room. As such, the phone had been ringing for at least three minutes now, and his patience was wearing thin. As he chucked the phone back into its cradle in disgust, he wondered whether Kosuke had any idea of what was happening to his son. Standing up, he decided to head to class. It never paid to skive, after all. Not to mention that the Course Convenor would likely be on his case if he misbehaved after that little stunt with the therapist and his Chemistry professor.

As the professor continued to drone on about how to label different types of alcohols, Krad idly wondered who had broken into the flat. It would have had to be someone who'd been watching the place for weeks; four students with very different schedules would leave only a small window of time in which to get in, search the place and then get out. That meant it was likely another student. Of course, it could have also been a spy, using motes to keep an eye on the house and inform him when all of them were gone. The blond resisted the urge to sigh; the only problem with knowing about magick was that it opened up a whole different range of possibilities, leading to more possibilities to investigate. He was just thankful that the two girls knew nothing about his and Daisuke's actual purpose; it would eliminate a number of scenarios that he would have otherwise had to consider. As annoying as Krad sometimes found them, he certainly did not want to have to interrogate them.

Then his thoughts wandered to the note he'd found, and when he could get down to tracking it properly. Repressing a sigh, he flipped a page of notes, pretending to be still paying attention to the lesson. It had been a while since the rogue Guardian had shown up anywhere, really; the last report they'd had of him was three years ago, and that had pinned him down in a small town just outside of Madrid. It figured; the man had always had a taste for farms and warmth in spite of his urban upbringing. Or perhaps it had been because of that; with von Brecht, assumptions were usually almost always wrong. The question was, what exactly was he planning here? None of the happenings appeared to be connected to him; they lacked the subtle simplicity that only a trained few could appreciate, himself being one of them. The entire thing was convoluted beyond all belief, and not for the first time Krad wished he could just ask for a replacement, pack up and go back to the Temple. At least training and stakeouts were marginally more interesting than sitting in a small classroom listening to a man babble on about issues he could really care less about. He'd only chosen Chemistry because it gave him the opportunity to cause a little chaos via explosion, anyway. So far, this year had been woefully short of bright, noisy and potentially dangerous happenings.

Ah, lunchtime. Krad sighed and snagged a salad from the cold foods bar and headed for a table, pulling out his phone even as he threw himself into a seat just seconds before another student. Grinning up smugly at the other student, he punched in Dark's number and waited. Hopefully Daisuke would be still there, although he would not put it past his partner to go out and do something bizarrely domestic like going grocery shopping. Thankfully, the younger man picked up on the fourth ring. "Hello?"

"Daisuke," he said pleasantly. "How are you?" Krad pulled a face at this opening; what was he, some stodgy old man making awkward conversation with a rarely-seen younger relative?

"Hey, um, Krad?"

"Yeah, Krad." He was rather pleased at this; perhaps the other would regain bits of his memory, they'd hopefully be able to put the pieces together, solve the case and save the world before bedtime.

"Dark's not here; he went back to work today. I told him to ask for another week's rest, but he insisted on going." Or not. Rubbing his temples, Krad struggled not to make a caustic remark, knowing that Daisuke would no longer understand.

"Right. Um, well, how's his dog doing?"

"His dog?"

"Uh…yeah. Big black thing, drools all over the place. Bit hard to miss, especially if it packs away as much food as it looks like it can."

"Right." The other man paused awkwardly. "It's okay, I guess." There was another pause. "Well, it was nice talking to you. I'll let Dark know you called—"

"Wait." Krad looked around coolly, hoping that no one was eavesdropping. If what he was about to say ever got back to the Temple, or around the university for that matter, he would seriously leave. He was absolutely awful with this kind of thing. "Are you feeling better than yesterday?"

"Yeah." There was a pause and then Daisuke spoke again. "It actually feels…nice. Like I've settled in. But Dark told me that I didn't live with him before, and that you were just joking. Is that true?"

Krad was torn between explaining everything to his partner again, because sharing information was an integral part of teamwork, or so he'd heard, and partly because as annoying as he'd found Daisuke on occasion, the man was still his partner and the only one who had any modicum of control over him during the Change. "Well, yes I was." There was a sharp intake of breath and the blond just _knew_ that the redhead was going into kicked-puppy mode. "But you seemed so happy and relieved when you heard his name that I couldn't say no." The two girls sitting next to him suddenly burst into high-pitched giggles and he resisted the urge to hit them. He probably sounded like that idiot from the vampire series everyone liked so much; the one that made vampires look sparkly instead of like the rotting corpses that they were.

"Oh." Daisuke sounded like he wanted to say something more, but eventually decided against it. "Well, um, I have to go." Krad could just see the small, happy smile on the other's face. "I have to get groceries. Can you believe that Dark only has a head of lettuce, some rice and orange juice in the house?"

"Huh. Seemed like a good cook when I last saw him though." Before the conversation took a turn for the worse, Krad quickly ended it. "Well, looks like I have to finish lunch in a bit. See you, Daisuke."

"Bye." The phone clicked off and Krad stared at the mobile in his hand. It suddenly shuddered again and began to vibrate. The call was from an unknown number, but the blond had a feeling he knew who it was anyway. "Hikari," he answered briskly.

"Hi Krad!" The man groaned and considered smashing his head into the table to dull the agony that he knew would follow. "How's my favourite GQ model doing?"

"I'm not a model," he gritted out slowly. "Have you been smoking mind-altering substances lately, Towa?"

"Hey, that's mean," she pouted down the phone. "And here I was, all ready to give you the good news."

"Define good," he replied dryly as he settled into his chair and scanned the room once more for signs of overly nosey students.

"So, we totally managed to get your powder and the little pearl you sent us rushed through. Kosuke said that anything you guys sent back was to be given priority, and since we had layoffs last week the lab rats are more than eager to please."

"Towa."

"I'm getting there, honey! A little patience never killed anyone, after all."

"The powder is pretty standard stuff; ceramic, old, blah. There were hints of glaze in it though, so I'm guessing it was from one of those freaky little dolls people like to collect." Krad closed his eyes. "But we found some glittery stuff mixed in. It could just be from the doll's dress or whatever, but we can't guarantee anything on that yet."

"Okay."

"Then there's the pearl, which we had to send up and down the entire place six or seven times at least," she huffed down the phone. "Do you have any idea how annoying it is to have to physically run around all day just because no one can identify your matter? We had to send it off to the _Agency_, Krad. The _Agency._"

Krad immediately sat up a little straighter. "Did you find anything useful?"

"Actually, yes. It's brilliant. It's a chip designed to amplify a living organism's natural powers. I mean, okay, we have things like Viagra, and steroids, and protein shakes, all of which provide that extra oomph, but we're talking about 200, 300 percent increases in physical attributes here. Like, if your body was an eighty-horsepower motorbike and you added the pearl in, it would jump up to at least two hundred." Krad blinked.

"Sounds pretty heavy duty."

"Oh, absolutely." There was a note of admiration in Towa's voice even as she continued. "And the reason it was so difficult to identify was because it had been mixed with organic matter."

Krad blinked. "Okay…"

"Hello? Organic matter? That pearl was like the perfect storm! It even adapted itself to different organisms to accommodate their individual needs within a week! We tested it on Bell and she grew so big we had to get a new tank just to operate to get the pearl out!"

"Who on earth is Bell?"

"The jellyfish, silly!"

"Er, right. So the reason you couldn't identify the pearl at first was because it was half organic and half mechanical, and therefore no one could decide what tests to run on it."

"Yup."

"And it turns out to significantly increase anyone or anything's natural powers to freakishly insane levels."

"So far, yes. Krad, sweetie, can I ask you something?"

A quick glance at the clock told him that he was fine. Nevertheless, he did not want to stay on the phone for too long. Talking to Towa, when not downright annoying because of the saccharine sweetness that she radiated like some bizarre, benevolent version of a sample of uranium, was simply exhausting. "Depends. And don't call me sweetie."

"Just between you and me, honeybunch, where _did_ you find this wonder of technology?"

"I thought I filled out the report."

"Yes, but there's no way 'work-related accident' covers it. The Temple needs to know in a little more detail, as do I, obviously."

"It really was a work-related accident."

"You mean like how you accidentally broke the photocopier and ended up with glass shards in your rear end whilst acting like a drunken frat-boy at last year's Christmas party?"

Krad spluttered for a few moments. The incident with the photocopier was not one he wanted to remember, especially not when there had been evidence plastered all over the walls the next day. "I have no idea what you're talking about," he haughtily replied in a vain attempt to retain at least some dignity.

"Honey, we need to know these things. What if there are more of them floating around? Oh, and you should have seen the look on those Agency scientists' faces! It was absolutely priceless – they all went white, then grey, then I swear they nearly soiled themselves! I admit, if I'd known that showing them the pearl was the quickest way to get them to stop boasting about their new discoveries, I would have done it myself a long time ago." The rivalry between the Agency and the Temples was infamous; their lab events were the best source of entertainment for Guardians and Agency employees alike.

"Uh, sorry Towa, I have to go. I have class now. Gotta blend in." He forced a laugh down the phone and quickly hung up before the technician could say anything else. Krad glared at the phone and sighed. He knew he shouldn't have killed that Gyakurin; just maybe whaled on it a little, tied it up in Magic Rope ™ and then dragged it to the Temple. Nevertheless, the Agency should not have been so bewildered or flustered by the appearance of what really amounted to an amalgamation of live cells and machinery. He wondered if it had been a special project of theirs; perhaps someone had infiltrated Agency ranks and stolen it? Then he snorted. Right. As if the Agency could ever best the Temples.

The rest of his day was relatively uneventful, for which Krad was extremely grateful as he walked back to the flat and thought about what he had learned from Towa. It was unlikely that the dust would ever provide a proper lead; unless the enchanter was a mere amateur, there would likely be no identifying traces of magick on it. He walked past a nearby supermarket and decided to step in for a moment, suddenly remembering how he was out of bread, milk and instant noodles. On the other hand, Riku had been feeling particularly generous lately and cooking for all of them, although that was highly unlikely to last. Sighing, he entered the store and shivered slightly as a cold blast of air hit him in the face.

He was making his way down the gigantic freezers and fighting the little voice that demanded ice cream when his trolley suddenly bumped into someone. "Ouch!" Snapping out of his thoughts, Krad stared at the person in front of him.

"Satoshi?"

The blue-haired man stared at him for a moment before a spark of recognition appeared in his eyes. Krad beamed; what a lovely surprise!

"Um, hi," the other said carefully. "You're Dark's friend's roommate, right?"

Huh. Well, it was a start. At least the man got his role correct. He leaned forward with his best charming smile and inhaled deeply. Much to his disappointment, there was not even a hint of a scent in the air. Just soap and ink.

"Absolutely. I'm Krad." He held out his hand, which the journalist carefully shook. The blond raised an eyebrow. "Tsk. Didn't you know a man's measure is in his handshake? That was a bit dead fish, don't you think?"

"Perhaps I didn't want to make you think I was interested," Satoshi immediately countered.

"Oh? Playing hard to get?"

"Not interested. And you just rammed your shopping cart into me. What makes you think I would feel benevolent or any variation thereof to you?"

"Touché."

Satoshi seemed to ease up a little at this admission, a small half-smile playing on his lips as he readjusted the basket hanging off his arm. "Well, I have to go," he said a little too quickly. "Lunch hour's almost over."

Krad almost sighed at himself; how could he have forgotten that the other man had a proper, working job? The perks of working as a Guardian-cum-student, he supposed; irregular schedules and frequent breaks were a luxury few had. "You want to come for dinner?"

Satoshi gave him a look that seemed torn between amusement and bewilderment. "What?" Even Krad was a little shocked at himself. Daisuke was supposed to be the impulsive one, not him! He was supposed to be the cool, deadly partner, not some wet-behind-the-ears rookie who blurted out inappropriate questions! Those sharp blue eyes turned on him once more, amusement sparkling in them once more. "Sure." Satoshi's lips curved up in a small, almost-smile. "But I'll buy. Come by the office at seven." The older man smiled and headed for the cashier, leaving a stunned Krad in his wake. _Well,_ the Guardian thought wryly, _at least I got what I wanted._ Then a grin lit up his features. It would be entertaining to see who ended up on top, at least.

**Dark:**

He could not believe he was actually about to do this. Behind him, Takeshi cackled wickedly and clapped him on the back. "Calling the missus?"

"He's not the missus. I barely even know him!"

"Just because it's not called a spade doesn't mean it's not a spade."

"I'll have you know that cohabitation amongst acquaintances is very common. In fact, it's what most students do when they're still in university and want to move out of college residences." Dark beams at Takeshi and leans back, feeling ridiculously happy at the comfortable banter.

Takeshi grins, white teeth flashing in a devil-may-care smile all the same. "Bet he'll be begging to leave before the week's out."

"Oh ye of little faith," Dark sighs. "I have been nothing but nice to him. _I _was brought up to treat guests well."

The other journalist leaned on the wall of Dark's cubicle. "So why is he staying at your place, anyway? I mean, you've never been one for social mores, but having a university student staying over at your place for an undetermined period of time seems a little dodgy, even to most normal people."

_Oops._ In his discussion of the redheaded student, Dark had completely forgotten to come up with a plausible reason as to why Daisuke was staying with him instead of living in his own apartment. Thankfully, he'd had a lifetime of hiding various pieces of personal information, or framing it in such a way that the other party would come to a misunderstanding and leave satisfied. "The house is a bit hectic at the moment," Dark finally said. "Daisuke's got some stuff to sort out and I let him stay over until he's done."

"And does anyone else know about this little arrangement?"

"Well, it's really quite personal…" Dark really hoped that Takeshi took the explanation at face value, because coming up with a whole other story to back his cover story up would not look good.

Takeshi laughed again. "All right," he winked. "I'll make sure your big gay love is kept quiet."

Dark rolled his eyes but let the comment slide. There was no point in dwelling on another very uncomfortable subject. "Get back to work," he laughed as he took a swipe at the layout designer, rolling his eyes at the other's mocking grin after he dodged. It was good to be back, even if he only had one eye.

**Daisuke:**

He stared at the vast collection of haphazardly arranged DVDs, unsure of even where to begin. Dark had assured him last night that anything on this shelf was 'open for his viewing pleasure', so to speak, but he found himself overwhelmed by the sheer number of films and television series that now faced him Dark clearly took his television and movies seriously. Closing his eyes, he reaches forward and grabs one randomly, hoping that it will look vaguely interesting. A sinister clown stares impassively at him from the cover and Daisuke almost drops the box on the floor as he scrambles to replace it.

Daisuke was still trying to adjust to the idea of living with Dark, even though apparently he did not actually belong in the house and Krad had simply told him yes for the sake of convenience when asked. Nevertheless, it appeared as though Dark was not unhappy about the incident; he certainly had not shown any signs of resentment or annoyance at having an extra guest in the house. In fact, he seemed to welcome the company. Daisuke could see why; with neighbours who constantly shouted and screamed at each other, and the rather dilapidated appearance of the building, it could get a little depressing at times. He wondered why the older man had not moved to a better area. From what he remembered of Azumano, there were better apartments that likely cost the same amount as this one, although of course he was in no position to judge anything.

A crash down the hallway caused him to immediately go for the door and carefully open it. When confronted with the sight of an angry Kanagawa and a woman who looked to be his girlfriend, Daisuke sighed and closed the door once more. There was no point in getting involved; he'd heard how nasty Kanagawa could get if provoked, and the fight was really none of his business anyway.

Settling on Independence Day, a film known for its reliability and explosions, Daisuke settled in for an hour and a half's worth of mind-numbing action. As yet another fleet of planes exploded courtesy of alien possession, a similar scenario flashed through his mind. He was sitting in a dark room, probably a cinema judging from the smell of old popcorn and recycled air that so many cinemas seemed to have these days. He was sitting next to someone slightly older, with light hair. It was Krad, he realized dimly. They were watching something; Bruce Willis was running across the screen. Just as suddenly, he was yanked back to the present, Will Smith shouting into the intercom and preparing for the final launch against the aliens. Mouth dry in shock, Daisuke lurched forward and fumbled for the glass of water he'd left on the coffee table earlier. _I was friends with Krad,_ he realized.

He sat in front of the television long after the film had ended, furiously digging through his mind for any other old memories that might have buried themselves in his subconscious. Flashes of brightly coloured lights and weird symbols wandered through his thoughts, but as soon as he tried to grasp them more firmly, they skittered out of his reach. Frustrated, he groaned and stretched, ignoring the now-throbbing headache building up behind his eyes. Then the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stood up on end, and Daisuke whipped around to see a tall, thin figure step into the room.

The first thought that crossed his mind was whether he had locked the door properly. Dark had told him to push it shut carefully because of its propensity to spring open if not carefully shut and bolted. A quick glance at the door showed him that it was still firmly bolted shut. The man smiled sinisterly. "Hello, Daisuke Niwa. How are you feeling?"

Daisuke warily moved backwards, feeling rather like he was trapped in an action movie of some sort. _Dark would know what to do,_ he randomly thought before shaking his head. How would a mere journalist know anything about fighting a clearly dangerous man? "Who are you?" He asked before almost groaning and just giving up. Who on earth asked their would-be attacker for a name?

The man smiled. "I'm Doctor Izumi." His voice sounded like gravel and dry leaves, all hissing with soft, dry clicks interspersed between his words. "It's very nice to meet you," he continued after a wry glance at the look on Daisuke's face. "I'm just here to make sure you're…recovering. You're doing very well," he added as though trying to be helpful. "It was nice meeting you. I'll see you around." Without another word, he silently vanished into thin air, leaving a bewildered redhead looking around for wires or trapdoors that might indicate an elaborate prank on Dark's part.

Swallowing hard, Daisuke hastily grabbed his coat and keys before dashing out of the house. He had to find Krad; the other man seemed to be the only one who understood fully what was going on. He felt as though he had been thrown into an action film, a film where the hero appeared to be the only character who did not have any idea of what was going on. _Well,_ he thought somewhat wryly, _if I'm the hero, at least I'll get to save the world and look good doing it._ He slid off the couch and ambled over to the phone, flicking through the address book before landing on Krad's number, much to his own surprise. He had not thought that Dark would actually keep Krad's number anywhere.

**Krad:**

The blond Guardian was ploughing his way through a tedious chapter on esters and how they were created when his mobile suddenly chirped, the disgustingly cheery ringtone courtesy of Risa and her phone plan, which apparently included a number of free ringtones. "Hello?"

There was a slight hesitation at the end, as though the person was not sure that he had dialed the right number. "…Hello? Krad?"

Ah. Leaning back in his chair, still somewhat annoyed at the interruption, he forced a smile down the phone. Daisuke would have normally picked up on his mood immediately, but there was no telling what he might do seeing as he'd lost all his memories and apparently started making up new ones to fill the gaps in his mind. Huh. Who knew freshman Psychology would come into play this late in life? "How are you, Daisuke?"

"Um, fine." There was definitely something on his mind; Krad could tell by the way Daisuke slowly drew out each word, as though he was so preoccupied that his mind was only half on the conversation at hand. Then it would all come rushing out, often resulting in near-incoherence and a lot of hand-waving. Silently playing the Jeopardy tune in his head, Krad waited. Just as he reached the final note, the dam broke. It was good to know that some things just never changed. "."

"Come again?" Try as he might, Krad had never been very good at speed-talking.

"There was a strange man in the house. He said he was coming to check up on me." There was a slight pause as Krad processed the information and Daisuke took another breath. "I mean, he was very civil, but I got the feeling that he really didn't care about whether I survived or not." There was another pregnant pause. "He, um, teleported."

Krad sat up a little straighter in his chair. "He did what now?" There was, of course, no such thing as teleporting; that was for sci-fi movies and comics. There was phasing, where the traveller manipulated time and space instead of his actual physical form to get from one place to another in seemingly no time at all, but there was no proof of that happening. Nevertheless, he struggled to remember that for all intents and purposes, Daisuke was now as good – or as weak – as a civilian human.

"He…teleported. I know there isn't really such a thing, but one minute he was there and the next he wasn't. And he seems to know where I live. Doesn't that qualify for stalker status, or something? Does Dark know about…anything, really?" This last question faded away, ending so quietly that had Krad not been part werewolf he would have missed it.

"Well, no," he said bluntly. There was no time to ease Daisuke back into the world of magick and his duties, no matter what that insane journalist might think. "In fact, I'd say you were at an advantage because you've got magick, and you're a Guardian." Krad had never been one for tact.

The shock was not unexpected, but the quiver in Daisuke's voice was. "I-I-I can't be."

Krad chuckled dryly. "Well Dorothy, I hate to tell you this, but you only left Kansas temporarily. Holiday's over now."

"You're crazy."

"All the world old is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a little strange," Krad replied. "Or you could just come…over," he winced here at the almost-slip, "and I'll talk you through the whole process again."

Daisuke hesitated, but Krad knew that the pull of more knowledge would be too strong to resist for his fellow Guardian. Besides, people dreamed of being told by a mysterious stranger that they were endowed with some gift or power that would help them save the world. He pressed on. "Haven't you wondered why all of us claim to know you, but you don't remember us? Don't you want to know why I kept saying you lived with me even when you demanded to stay with Dark?"

Apparently he had pushed too far, too quickly. "I don't even know you." Daisuke snapped. "I don't know why I called you in the first place, if all you're going to do is talk in riddles and babble nonsense." Before Krad could reply, the redhead slammed the phone down back into its cradle. The blond groaned and leaned back in his chair, pinching at the bridge of his nose to stave off an oncoming headache. He now had to decide whether to inform the Temple of this latest development or not; there was no telling when, or even _if_ Daisuke would regain his memory. He certainly could not keep an eye on things alone, especially not with two other civilians in the house. Not to mention that Kosuke would be most displeased with this turn of affairs. What a mess this was.

**Satoshi:**

Satoshi stopped by Dark's desk to show him the related cartoon, nodding at the journalist's grin and thumbs-up. Of course, he was not obliged to show the other anything, but he knew that if Dark did not get at least a preview of what would be accompanying his pieces, he would come over to the artists' section and harass everyone until someone gave in. Showing him the cartoons before they went to press was merely pre-emptive action, Satoshi had long ago decided.

His thoughts eventually turned to Krad, who he had promised to meet for…oh boy. A quick glance at the clock told him that the other man would be showing up at seven, or likely earlier if he was a student; the prospect of free fod was always a good incentive. He still had no idea why he'd offered to buy; as far as he was concerned, Krad was a Guardian masquerading as a university student for reasons likely best known to himself and Daisuke. His sensei had been out lately, but a quick peek through Star Temple files had yielded him a little basic information, such as his full name, position and, strangely enough, favourite colour. He had seen sample files before, mostly during training sessions, but he supposed it stood to reason that the Temple would not hand out private files to just anyone claiming to be from the Agency, even if he did have the card and other…marks to prove it. Now all he had to do was make it through dinner and smile. It should be easy; after all, the mere thought of dating anyone, let alone a university student, would be a sufficient reminder to keep himself in check.

Seven o' clock rolled around, but no one showed up at the door. Truth be told, the artist had half-expected Krad to suddenly appear in his office, scribble 'Sorry' on a Post-It note and stick it to his chest. Most people usually had second thoughts about dating him, especially after going out for dinner with him. Losing the majority of one's organs tended to kill the appetite. Well, at least Krad would be out of his hair. As nice as it was to think of spending a little time with people other than Dark, Takeshi, a couple of the other artists or his sensei, he simply could not afford that luxury with Krad. Not right now, likely not ever if his sensei or anyone else had a say in the matter

At precisely 7.03pm, the bell to the reception suddenly chimed. No one bothered looking up; it was normally deliveries from the diner across the street, for those unfortunate souls who had been unable to finish their pieces in time. Then someone yelled his name and Satoshi ventured back into the sea of cubicles, mildly curious to see if Krad would turn up.

The Guardian had turned up after all, dressed in a crisp dress shirt and a pair of well-cut jeans. Satoshi heard the titters of the three secretaries and the other female journalists and sighed; their interest in the blond man did not bode well. "Hello, Krad," he coolly greeted. "How was class today?" At the shocked silence in the room, the blue-haired man could not but smile in amusement.

Judging from the look on his face, Krad knew exactly what he was up to. "Satoshi. It's good to see you." Moving forward swiftly, the blond swept him into a bear hug, so tight that the older man swore he could feel his ribs creaking in protest. "I've been thinking about you all day." Knowing that there was nothing he could do any more to prevent the inevitable gossip that would swirl around the office, the blue-haired man let himself go limp and hugged the other back. As he slid out of the other's grasp, he reached out and tugged the other man's hand, looking up coyly and feeling like a right idiot all the while.

"Come on, cupcake."

Krad burst out laughing as soon as he entered the room. "Cupcake?" He inquired amusedly.

Satoshi turned to face the Guardian, feeling a little off-guard and not a little irked at himself for fuelling the fire that would surely come for him tomorrow. "You should probably know that I'm not interested."

"Well, admittedly, we have had a few obstacles, but I assure you that Daisuke—"

"This isn't about your flatmates' opinions," Satoshi mildly replied. "I said I'd buy you dinner. We can talk about this entire delusion you seem to have created over it." Grabbing his coat off his desk chair, he briskly walked out of the door. "I hope you like Thai."

A ten minute walk later, they were seated in a tiny restaurant tucked away behind one of the town's many marketplaces, seated comfortably in an alcove at the back of the restaurant. Satoshi bit back a grin at the look on Krad's face; it was clear that the other man appreciated the decor and atmosphere of the place. It was also known for the authenticity of its cuisine, but low-profile enough not to warrant a visit from the Michelin committee. As they tucked into the Phad Thai, the artist started up a little conversation. It never hurt to know more about any Guardian, and Krad Hikari had been a 'person of interest' for some time now.

"How's the food?" He asked as the final dish arrived. True to student custom, Krad was trying a little of everything and eating as much as possible. The cartoonist smiled wryly; he remembered all too well the hunger pangs and lack of good food that came with being a student. He still could not look at a can of tuna without wanting to retch.

"It's amazing," Krad replied honestly; the first honest thing he'd said all evening? It was difficult to tell; they had somehow become the two people whose intentions had somehow become obscured under a blanket of banter and playful jokes. Only, he was serious. He needed to make sure that Krad knew and understood that too.

"I understand you wanted to ask me out? The meal is on me."

"Oh?" Those golden eyes lit up with interest once more as the blond leaned forward. "Paying for me now?"

Satoshi sighed and leaned forward so that he was almost nose-to-nose with the younger man. "I'm not interested," he said softly. "Consider this compensation."

"Feeling guilty?"

"Not at all." Satoshi sighed and moved back, so that he could better look at the other. "I'm sure you have your fair share of potential life partners, or however you choose to refer to them." He calmly ignored the snicker that made its way out from behind his dinner partner's cup. "So stop bothering me. We can still be friends," he offered, although he knew that most of the time that it was never redeemed anyway.

Krad slowly moved the glass away from his face and stared at Satoshi, grinning slightly. "Wow," he commented dryly, "you just managed to insult my integrity, my sense of decency and my honour in one whole sentence. Too bad the guy with the record managed to do my parents and species in one sentence as well." The cartoonist had to smile at that.

"Well, I was holding back a little. I don't generally go around breaking people's hearts." As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Satoshi knew that he had made a grave mistake. The comment would likely only challenge Krad further, and he would be left with a Guardian trailing him day and night. "I know the thrill of the chase is all that really matters to you at this stage," he forced a smile, "but trust me, going after older men isn't a…healthy pastime. Go find something else to do."

Krad started laughing at this point. "Well, I'm sure we've just played out the only scenario not considered by romance novelists," he finally managed to get out before collapsing into another round of laughter. "And not to make fun of you or anything, but you're an awful lot of work for a quick fling."

Blue eyes sparked in exasperation. "Exactly."

The other man must have decided to relent for now, as he relaxed into his chair and let out another few bursts of quiet laughter, no doubt in amusement at the turn which affairs had taken. "All right," he dryly conceded. "I'll leave you alone. For now." Satoshi should not have shuddered at that. It was almost certainly misconstrued.

**Dark:**

"Honey, I'm home!" Dark sighed as he stepped into the house, carefully closing and bolting the door so that no one would stumble in by mistake; an all too frequent occurrence when most of one's neighbours had a tendency to spend the night either soused or higher than a kite. The first thing he saw was the carelessly-tossed aside remote control, something that would have immediately caught Daisuke's eye and sent him running to put it back in its proper place on the coffee table. Unless the student had run out on him, or someone had scared him off, it was unlikely that even such a minor detail had escaped the other's mind. Perhaps he had class and rushed off in a hurry? Highly unlikely; living with the other for a little more than a week had already taught him that Daisuke could not leave a room without first tidying up. He only hoped that no harm had befallen his houseguest.

"Daisuke?" Shucking off his coat and draping it over one arm, he began to make his way down the hallway.

He found the younger man backed up against the wall of the guest room, carving knife pointed outwards with one hand. Even as he quickly held up both hands to show that he was unarmed, he noted that the other's hand did not once waver, and there was no trace of fear in those deep crimson eyes. "It's just me," he quickly reassured the other.

As though he had not heard, Daisuke barked out a question. "What colour were the sheets the first night I came back?" Dark felt a small stab of surprise when he heard the 'back'; he had previously thought that Daisuke was aware of the fact that the little apartment had never really been his home. Nevertheless, he could not repress the small smile that the thought gave him.

Just as Dark was about to answer, a sudden howl filled the room. Out of nowhere, the large black dog that he'd somehow acquired bounded in and threw itself at Daisuke, man and animal going down in a flurry of tangled limbs. "Dammit, heel boy! Heel!" It struck him for the first time that he had not actually bothered to name the dog, although where it had disappeared off to for the past several days was still a mystery. He decided to check it after he got this little mess sorted out.

"Stop it!" He yelled, causing both dog and man to suddenly stop struggling altogether. Fixing a fierce glare on the black animal in front of him, Dark pointed to the spot near his feet. "Come here." Tongue lolling out almost sheepishly, the dog padded over to Dark and sat down immediately, large brown eyes looking up apologetically. What did not reassure the journalist was the sight of red staining the creature's teeth and muzzle, gleaming wetly in the light.

Dark rushed over to tend to Daisuke, hands immediately patting at various spots. Thankfully, the dog had not sunk its teeth into anything vital, but the redhead did sport a nasty gash along his side along with the expected scrapes and bruises. His heart sank as he took in the bloody mess that was the other's right arm and grabbed the dog's collar on the way out, hauling the animal into the living room before going for the first aid kit. Yanking out a roll of gauze and some iodine, he got to work. Thankfully, the bleeding was already slowing down, and most of the wounds appeared to be fairly easy to patch up, but the one on Daisuke's arm appeared to need stitches. Dark sighed; he knew that hospitals would be more than happy to do the job for him, but he also knew that it would lead to a number of unnecessary and incredibly difficult to answer questions. Taking out a sewing needle and plain white cotton thread, he carefully rearranged Daisuke so that the younger man's arm rested in his lap. "Hey, Daisuke, I'm going to stitch you up now," he softly told the other. The red-eyed man simply and made a noise in his throat, which the journalist took to be acquiescence. "It's gonna hurt a bit," he added. "You want something to bite on?" He knew that it was imperative that the other not pass out, in case he slipped away. Daisuke slowly shook his head from one side to the other. Dark nodded. "Okay. If it gets to be too much, tell me and I'll stop. Try to stay awake though, okay? I'll let you sleep once you're all patched up." Daisuke slowly nodded and Dark swallowed, positioning the needle at one side of the jagged wound.

The next morning found the large dog slobbering all over Dark as he lay in bed, desperately trying to get an extra fifteen minutes' sleep in before his alarm went off and he had to show up at work again. He finally gave up against the onslaught of tongue and dog breath and groaned as he sat up in bed, sparing a glare at the dog sitting happily next to him, blissfully unaware of the chaos it had caused last night. Without really thinking about it, Dark waved a hand dismissively at the animal. "Begone, fiend," he half-joked. "I'm awake now." In an explosion of dark violet sparks, the black dog suddenly disappeared and Dark blinked. Surely he hadn't made the thing explode into little purple sparkles? "Er, I didn't mean that," he called out, feeling a little lame. "You didn't have to disappear on me." When the animal failed to reappear, Dark sighed in disappointment. _At least I won't have to walk the dog every day,_ he thought wryly as he got into the shower. Still, it had been nice having an animal around, something simple and less demanding than his still-amnesiac houseguest.

To his surprise, he found Daisuke sitting in the living room, carefully nibbling at an apple. "Up so early?"

"Yeah," the crimson-eyed man slowly replied. "Have an early class today. The teacher likes to take roll call."

"You sure you'll be okay? We should probably change those dressings too, before you head off." Dark nodded at the white bandages criss-crossed over Daisuke's neck and arm, stretching down beneath his shirt. "I'll help you with that, once I get my coffee." The student smiled a little at this and tilted his head towards the teapot that Dark swore he'd lost three years ago.

"You sure you wouldn't like some tea? It's quite strong."

"Nah, only coffee for me." Dark got the percolator going and jammed two pieces of bread into the toaster, pulling out a small cup of yoghurt as well. He absently-mindedly licked at the remains of the sweet treat whilst waiting for the bread to pop out of the toaster, immediately grabbing both slices and spreading a generous amount of butter and marmalade on top before heading out. Daisuke appeared to be almost done with his apple, but his cup of tea was still hot and steaming, and it appeared as though he would not leave the table for a while. "When's your class?"

"Nine."

"What major are you, anyway?"

"Art." At the look on Dark's face, Daisuke smiled a little. "That's what Risa and Riku looked like too when we first met." The journalist did not reply; he too remembered the looks on people's faces when he told them that he was going to apply for journalism at Cornell. He had not been able to go; his mother took a turn for the worse that year and he had decided to remain in Japan for a little while longer to take care of her. He sometimes still wondered what would have happened had he left; it was one of those things that just drifted across his mind whenever he had too much time on his hands.

"That's an interesting choice," he replied. "Do you like it?" From the way Daisuke's eyes lit up as he described the project they were currently working on in class, it appeared that he more than liked it.

It was a pity they did not talk more often, Dark thought as he dropped Daisuke off at the University before heading to the office. Once you got past the prissy exterior and likely all the Guardian-induced angst, Daisuke was quite a nice person. Dark decided to be nicer to Daisuke; after all, if the student was going to be living with him for the foreseeable future, he may as well try and make it enjoyable for the both of them. He sighed and twitched uncomfortably at the prospect of asking Daisuke about what had triggered his knife-happy mode; he'd held off this morning because he didn't want to agitate the redhead any further. _Or maybe,_ an insidious little voice inside his mind whispered to him, _you just don't want to find out. You just don't want the confirmation._

They continued in a similar vein, neither wanting to go over the previous night's events. Dark paused when they stepped out into the crisp morning, holding up a set of car keys in front of the younger man's face. "Want a lift?"

When they got to the university, Daisuke found himself giving directions to Dark on how to get to the Fine Arts building. It was clear that the journalist had never been on campus before, and not for the first time he wondered what had brought the other here to Azumano. "You can let me off here," he finally said, knowing that it would be much easier for him to just walk to class now. The journalist grinned brightly up at him and nodded, and for a moment Daisuke swore he could feel his heart skip a beat. Blushing at the mere thought, he hastily turned away and made a run for the safety of the classroom before Dark could yell anything remotely embarrassing after him. He somehow just knew that the other would love to tease him openly for the kicks.

Dark watched as Daisuke took off like a shot before checking his watch. Wincing at the time; he would be cutting it extremely close thanks to rush hour traffic and all the other intricacies that came with driving to work, he headed straight for the office. Thankfully, Takeshi had not asked for a ride today. With just minutes to spare, Dark pulled into the parking lot and headed for the closest space, groaning at the thought of leaving Sally out to bake in the hot, hot sun.

He almost ran into Ed on his way in, flailing madly as he made a mad dash to swipe his card before the electronic register marked him as late. It was a silly system, he'd always thought; checking employees off like they were still in primary school had always riled him up somewhat. Nevertheless, this was the job that paid his bills and even he was not going to quit just because of some higher-up's lousy need to keep tabs on what time his employees came in at.

A quick scan of his inbox revealed a number of interesting tidbits. Dark sighed as he deleted the article about surfboarding rabbits; interesting, but likely to go to Mia or one of the other, newer journalists. Quickly highlighting the topics that he would be interested in covering, the purple-haired man made his way over to Fred, who was the unofficial organizer of their little section. The man was dressed today in one of the most hideous shirts Dark had ever seen in his life, with red and apple-green clashing together to form some sort of mould-inspired pattern. Nevertheless, he was the only one who could keep the peace, and this invaluable talent earned him the grudging respect of all those involved. "Oh Fre-ed," he cooed happily as he poked the other man.

Ignoring Dark's mischievous grin, Fred immediately opened the list of available topics and turned his screen so that the other journalist could see which ones had already been taken, and which were still available. "Well," he stated, "you're more than welcome to fight over the illegal lobbying story with Elric, but I'd let him have it because he's been around a little longer. Understands what people want to hear, you see. On the other hand, you're more than welcome to the somersaulting parakeet story, since they're all the rage now." Dark immediately interrupted, having already been saddled with filler stories for a few days now 'whilst he got his feet back', as Fred repeatedly pointed out.

"What about that factory meltdown just outside of the city limits?"

"It's going to Seiya, as soon as he gets his eternally late ass in here."

"What? But he's not even here! And I call first dibs!"

"Dark, this isn't primary school anymore. You can't just call dibs on things!"Fred paused with his mouth half-open as though about to say something else, but then firmly closed it again. Dark immediately went for the kill.

"Come on, Fred," he coaxed, "You know I'm good. I've been here long enough to no longer need to prove myself, haven't I? I've earned the right to be trusted with bigger, better articles now. And you know I can do it, even with a bum eye and all—"

"It's your insurance, okay?"

Dark reeled back, mind immediately processing the implications. "But that didn't even cover accidents outside of work!"

Fred sighed impatiently, but the other man could see the sympathy in his eyes. "Some of the higher-ups decided to break out the corporate responsibility handbook at that point, and you just happened to benefit from their suddenly-generous policy changes. For once." Dark could not believe his ears.

"So what? I cost the company too much and that's why you can't let me out of the office anymore?"

Fred shrugged helplessly. "Orders from the Powers that Be," he said helplessly, tugging at the collar of his horrific shirt. "You know I'd give you the bigger jobs in a heartbeat, but for now you'll just have to make do with Shirley and hope for the best."

"Who?"

"The acrobatic parakeet."

Slumping down in defeat as he recognized the determined set of Fred's jaw, Dark slowly made his way back his cubicle, wishing silently that Shirley the somersaulting parakeet would just up and die. At least people would be tempted to buy the paper in her memory.

A quick glance at his official e-mail inbox showed nothing of immediate importance. After banging out a half-baked e-mail to the proud owners of Shirley, Dark leaned back and surfed for a while, glancing through parakeet articles and hoping that there would be something more interesting to add to the story. After all, he did have 700 words to write. The least he could do was make it interesting. A sudden beep from his computer alerted him to the arrival of two new e-mails, one of them from Takeshi and the other from Shirley's owners. Clicking on his friend's e-mail, Dark was confronted with a rather aggressive message.

From: Saehara, T

To: Mousy, D

Subject: WTF

My sister just texted me. You robbing the cradle now?

Completely bewildered, Dark immediately replied, rising to defend his honour from an unseen foe.

From: Mousy, D

To: Saehara, D

Subject: Re: WTF

I have no idea what you're talking about. Let me know what you're smoking.

From: Saehara, T

To: Mousy, D

Subject: Re: Re: WTF

You dropping students off at university out of the kindness of your own heart now?

Dark did not bother answering the last e-mail; he knew exactly what would happen if he did. He would likely respond with something inappropriate and offensive to everyone and his mother, and with the way his luck was going, he would also likely be called into Human Resources for abuse of equipment. Besides, there was nothing he could say to contradict Takeshi's statement. Sighing, he opened the e-mail from the parakeet owners and immediately sent them a list of questions, as well as asking if he could interview them by telephone. Rubbing his already throbbing temples, he set to looking for footage of the amazing somersaulting avian. It would be good if he could get a still of the creature mid-trick. Or something like that.

Lunchtime came all too quickly, bringing with it the usual extra edge now that the morning was officially over. As usual, Shun from IT passed around the takeout menu, which most of the staff already knew by heart from too many hours spent in the office working overtime to make sure the paper was finished. The doorbell rang and as soon as the takeout arrived, everyone simply swarmed around the boxes of food and huddled together in little groups, chatting and laughing. Takeshi immediately made a beeline for Dark's desk, followed by Satoshi. For some reason, the blue=haired man appeared somewhat distracted today, as evidenced by his rumpled shirt. Admittedly, the cartoonists always looked a little disheveled from crawling through image archives all day long, but for someone as fastidious as Satoshi to sport a shirt with an obvious ink stain on the shirtsleeve was a sign that he was either under great emotional turmoil., or that he had simply forgotten to do the laundry. Dark was willing to bet his money on the former. Satoshi might not be the next Nigella Lawson, but he was certainly a stickler for clean clothes.

As Takeshi opened his mouth to speak, Satoshi shot him a glare that could have stopped a charging elephant cold. "Piss off, Saehara." With a glance at Dark to let him know that he was not yet off the hook, Takeshi lazily saluted the artist and wandered back to his desk, letting Dark breathe a sigh of relief. He really did not want to explain the living situation with Daisuke right now. However, as soon as he heard about Satoshi's little problem, he almost wished he could turn back time and have that awkward conversation with Takeshi after all.

"Krad's hitting on me. And I kinda like it."

Who the hell had died and appointed him resident therapist? Dark was going to kill the person once he found out.

* * *

Hi all, hope you enjoyed this chapter! Reviews are much appreciated!


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